Second Phase: 1. 1765 to 1858: The Beginning of the British Rule
Second Phase: 1. 1765 to 1858: The Beginning of the British Rule:
The grant of Diwani power to the East India Company made it real master of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
As a result of this, the Company became responsible for the administration of Justice and Collection of land revenue.
But it was very difficult for the Company to administer that vast territory.
Therefore the administration of the civil justice and collection of revenue was left to the Indians. However the Company appointed two English Officers to supervised the working of this system.
This system was proved to be harmful for the India.
The Indian Officials who were responsible for the administration of Justice and Collection of revenue had no effective power to enforce their decisions.
On the other hand, the company’s servants were directly responsible to the Court of Directors in England.
The Governors and Councilors were appointed from among the Senior Servants of the Company.
The Servants of the Company exploited the Indians, earn their wealth and returned to England, which increased the sufferings of Indian in the hands of East India Company.
Not only this, the East India Company approached the British Government for a huge loan.
It was very strange for the British Government while the Servants of the Company were getting richer on the hand the company was going towards its bankruptcy.
All these facts led the British Government to suspect that something was wrong with the administration of the Company.
The members of the British Parliament attracted the attention of the British Government towards the poor conditions of the company’s administration.
Thereafter a Secret Committee was appointed by the House of Commons to inquire into the affairs of the company on 13/04/1772.
Many defects and deficiencies in the administration of East India Company were found in the inquiry reports of the Secret Committee.
This Committee also suggested that the affairs of the company must be regulated by the British Parliament.
Consequently, the British Parliament passed the Regulating Act of 1773.
Regulating Act of 1773
This Act was of a great Constitutional importance for the following reasons:
a. It was the First step taken by the British Government to control and regulate the affairs of the East India Company of India;
b. It also recognised, for the first time, the political and administrative functions of the Company;
c. It laid down the foundation of Central administration in India.
The Features of this Act were as follows:
1. It designated the Governor of Bengal as the ‘Governor General of Bengal’ and created an Executive Council of 4 members to assist him. The first such Governor-General was Lord Warran Hastings.
2. It made the Governors of Bombay and Madras Presidencies subordinate to the Governor-General of Bengal. It is very important to mention here that earlier to the Regulating Act of 1773; all the Governors of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta presidencies were independent of one another.
3. It provided for the establishment of a Supreme Court at Calcutta (1774) comprising one Chief Justice and three other Judges, who were to be the Barristers of England or Ireland of not less than 5 years standing. The Supreme Court was to be a Court of Record and have the original as well as appellate Jurisdiction.
4. It prohibited the servants of the Company from engaging in any private trade or accepting presents or bribes from the natives.
5. It strengthened the Control of the British Government over the Company by requiring the Court of Directors (Which was the Governing body of the company) to report in respect of its revenue, civil and military affairs carried in India to the British Government.
Although the Objects of Regulating Act of 1773 were good but the system that it established was imperfect. It suffered from many defects i.e.
1. It did not define clearly the relationship of the Governor-General and his council and the Supreme Court with each other.
2. It did not make clear as to what laws the Supreme Court was to administer.
3. It placed the Governor-General at the mercy of his council.
The Act of Settlement, 1781
To remove the defects of the Regulating Act of 1773, the British Parliament passed the Amending Act of 1781, which is also known as the Act of Settlement, 1781.
The Act of Settlement of 1781 made the following changes in the Regulating Act of 1773.
1. It exempted the Governor-General and the Council from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for the acts done by them in their official capacity. Similarly, it also exempted the servants of the company from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for their official actions.
2. It excluded the revenue matters and the matters arising in the collection of revenue from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
3. It provided that the Supreme Court was to have jurisdiction over all the inhabitants of Calcutta.
4. It required the Court to administer the justice to inhabitants according to their personal laws i.e. Hindus were to be tried according to the Hindu Law and Muslims were to be tried according to the Mohammedan Law.
5. It lay down that the appeals from the Provincial Courts could be taken to the Governor-General-in-Council and not to the Supreme Courts.
6. It empowered the Governor-General-in-Council to frame regulations for the Provincial Courts and Councils.
The Pitts India Act, 1784
The Act of Settlement of 1781 was passed to cure the defects of Regulating Act of 1773, but it could not cure the defects of the Regulating Act 1773.
Due to this the agitations for an effective control over the company’s Indian affairs continued.
This matter of agitations against the East India Company was again raised before the British Parliament.
As a result of this, the British Parliament appointed two committees to look into this matter.
These Committees which was appointed by the British Parliament recommended for the recall of the Governor-General Lord Warran Hastings and the Chief Justice Impey.
But it is very important to note here that although the Committees suggested for the recall of the Governor-General Warran Hastings and the Chief Justice Impey, but even then the Court of Proprietors refused to recall them.
This shows the inadequate degree of parliamentary control over the company and its administration.
To rectify this situation, the British Parliament had passed ‘The East India Company Act, 1784’ which is also popularly known as “Pitts India Act of 1784”. This Act is known by Pitts India Act of 1784 because it was introduced in the British Parliament by the then Prime Minister William Pitt.
The salient features of this Act were as follows:-
a. It divides the functions of the company into two parts i.e. the commercial and political functions.
b. Under this Act, the Court of directors allowed to manage the commercial functions of the company, whereas to perform the political functions of the company, the Act created a new body called Board of Control.
c. Under this Act, Firstly the company’s territories in India were for the first time called the “British possessions in India” and secondly the British Government was given the Supreme control over the company’s affairs and its administration in India.
d. Under this Act the Council of the Governor-General was reconstituted which will have Governor-General and three other councilors. One of them was to be the commander-in-chief of the company’s forces in India.
Act of 1786
In the year 1786, Lord Cornwallis was appointed as the Governor-General of Bengal. He placed two demands to accept that post which are as follows:
1. He should be given the power to override the decision of his council in special cases.
2. He should also be commander-in-chief of the company’s forces in India.
Accordingly, the Act of 1786 was enacted to make both the provisions.
Charter Act of 1793
This Act extended the overriding power which was given by the Act of 1786 to Lord Cornwallis over his council all the future governor-general and governor of Presidencies.
It gave the Governor-General more power and control over the governors of subordinate Presidencies of Bombay and Madras.
It extended the trade monopoly of the East India Company in India for a further period of 20 years.
It provided that the Commander-in-chief was not to be a member of the Governor-General’s Council, unless he was so appointed as member of the Governor-General’s Council.
It also laid down that the members of Board of Control which was created by Pitt India Act of 1784 and their staff was, henceforth, to be paid out of the Indian revenue.
The Charter Act of 1813
After making investigation into the financial affairs of the East India Company by a Committee of the House of Commons the present Charter Act of 1813 was passed.
Although the present charter extended the trading right of East India Company for a further period of 20 years, however it abolished the trade monopoly of the company in India. That means to say that by virtue of this charter the Indian trade was thrown open to all the British Merchants.
However, it is very important to note that although the present charter also gave the trading rights to all the British Merchants but even this charter continued the monopoly of the East India Company in respect of trade in tea and trade with China.
Under this charter, the sovereignty was asserted to the British Crown over the company’s territories in India.
It allowed the Christian missionaries to come to India for the purpose of enlightening the people in India.
It also provided for the spread of Western Education among the inhabitants of the British territories in India.
It authorised the Local Governments in India to impose taxes on persons. They could also punish the persons for not paying taxes to the Government.
The Charter Act of 1833
This Act was the final step towards the Centralization in British India.
It made the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor-General of India and vested in him all the civil and military powers. Thus, this Act of 1833 created, for the first time, Government of India having authority over the entire territorial area possessed by the British in India. Lord William Bentick was the First Governor-General of India.
Under this Act the Governor-General of India was given exclusive legislative powers for the entire British India and it deprived the Governors of Bombay and Madras of their legislative powers. The laws made under the previous charters were called as Regulations, whereas the laws made under this charter were called as Acts.
It provided that the territories in India as was previously under the East India Company now deemed to held by it “in trust for His Majesty, His heirs and successors.”
The Charter of 1833 attempted to introduce a system of open competition for the selection of civil servants and also stated that the Indian should not be debarred from holding any place, office and employment under the East India Company. However, this provision was negated after opposition from the Court of Directors.
Under this Act, the Governor-General of India was empowered to make laws and regulations for all persons, whether British or native, foreigners or other, places and things within the territory of the company.
Under this Act, the Council was enlarged for the purpose of legislative work by addition of a 4th member- who was known as the Law Member-who had no voice in the executive matters.
The Charter Act of 1853
This was the last of the Charter Acts enacted between the year 1793 to 1853.
This Act, for the first time, separated the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General’s Council.
This Act established the Indian (Central) Legislative Council consisting of 12 members.
The Council of the Governor-General was enlarged for legislative purposes by addition of 6 new members.
The 12 members were
a. The Governor-General,
b. The Commander-in-Chief,
c. 6 legislative members of whom two were English Judges of the Calcutta Supreme Court and
d. The other 4 were officials appointed by the Local Governments of Madras, Bombay, Bengal and Agra.
In this manner the local representation was introduced for the first time in the Indian Legislature.
Legislation was for the first time treated as a special function of the Government requiring special machinery and special process.
But it is very important to note here that no law made by the Council could be promulgated without the assent of the Governor-General who had power to veto any Bill of the Legislative Council.
The Indian (Central) Legislative Council functioned as a mini-Parliament, adopting the same procedures as was adopted by the British Parliament.
This Act introduced an open competition system for the selection and recruitment of the Civil Servants.
In this way, this Act gave the chance to the Indians as well in the Covenanted Civil Services (Higher Civil Services).
Accordingly the Macaulay Committee (The Committee on the Indian Civil Service) was appointed in the year 1854.
This Act extended the Company’s rule and allowed it to retain the possession of Indian territories on trust for the British Crown.
But this time this Act did not specify any particular period, unlike the previous charters.
This was a clear indication that the company’s rule could be terminated at any time by the British Parliament.
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