Third Phase:1858 to 1919: End of Company’s Rule: The Direct British Rule:

 Third Phase:1858 to 1919: End of Company’s Rule: The Direct British Rule:

                                               The Government of India Act 1858

 This significant Act was enacted in the wake of Revolt of 1857- which is also known as the First War of Independence or the “Sepoy mutiny”.

This Sepoy Mutiny was an unsuccessful rebellion against British rule in India in 1857-59 Begun in Meerut by the Indian troops in the services of the British East India Company, it spread to Delhi, Agra, Kanpur and Lucknow.

This Act abolished the East India Company and transferred Government of India from the Company to the British Crown.

India henceforth to be governed by and in the name of Her Majesty.

The transfer of company’s government to the British Crown was announced by a “Royal Proclamation” made by the Queen of England.

Under this Act, the Board of Control and the Court of Directors were abolished and their powers were transferred to one of Her Majesty’s Secretary of the State.

It changed the designation of the Governor-General of India to that of Viceroy of India.

The Viceroy was the direct representative of the British Crown in India. Lord Canning, became the First Viceroy of India.

It created a new office, Secretary of State for India.

The powers of the crown were to be exercised by the Secretary of the State for India who was a member of the British Cabinet and was responsible ultimately to the British Parliament.

The Secretary was required to submit to British Parliament annually a statement of the moral and material progress of India

And to do all these functions the Secretary was assisted by a Council of 15 members. This Council of 15 members was known as the “Council of India”.

In this Council initially eight of its members were to be appointed by the Crown whereas the remaining seven members were to be elected by the Court of Directors.

All the future vacancies in the Council of India were to be filled up by the Crown of England.

The Council was an advisory body. The Secretary of State was made the Chairman of the Council.

The Law member and the Advocate-General or the Governor-General-in-Council of India were to be appointed by the King.

This Act constituted the Secretary of State in Council as a body Corporate, capable of suing and being sued in India and in England.

Limitations of The Government of India Act, 1858

1.      This Act of 1858 was confined to the improvement of the administrative machinery by which the Indian Government was to be supervised and controlled from England.

2.      It did not alter in any substantial way the system of Government that prevailed in India.

                                                              The Indian Council Act of 1861

After the great revolt of 1857, the British Government felt the necessity of seeking the cooperation of the Indians in the administration of their country.

In pursuance of this policy of association, three acts were enacted by the British Parliament in the year 1861, 1892 and 1909.

The Indian Council Act of 1861 is an important landmark act in the constitutional and political history of India, because it provided India with the framework of Government which lasted upto the present time.

Under this Act Indians were for the first time associated with the work of legislation.

It provided that the Viceroy should nominate some Indians as non-official members of his expanded council.

In the year 1862, Lord Canning, the then Viceroy, nominated three Indians to his legislative council

a.      The Raja of Banaras;

b.      The Maharaja of Patiala; and

c.       Sir Dinkar Rao.

It initiated the process of decentralization by resorting the legislative powers to Bombay and Madras Presidencies.

It also provided for the establishment of new legislative council

a.      of Bengal, (established in the year 1862);

b.      North-Western Provinces ( established in the year 1886); and

c.       Punjab ( Established in the year 1897)

It empowered the Viceroy to issue ordinances without the concurrence of the legislative council during an emergency. The life of such an ordinance was of 6 months.

In addition to this, Viceroy had the power to Veto any Bill.

Under this act, the Provincial Legislatures were not empowered to make any laws that might alter the Acts of Central Legislature.

 

Limitations of this Act:

1.      It gave unlimited powers to the Viceroy.

2.      The non-official members had no right in the council. They could not ask questions and discuss on the Budget.

3.      The non-official members were used to be the native Princes or Zamindars. They were not men of intelligence and had absolutely no interest in the legislation for India.

                                               The Indian Councils Act 1892

The Indian National Congress (INC) was formed in the year 1885.

 In its first session the INC passed a resolution expressing grave dissatisfaction towards the existing system of Government.

What were the demands of INC?

a.      It demanded reform and expansion of the Legislative Councils by admitting a considerable proportion of elected members as well as an increase in their power.

b.      They also wanted the principle of election instead of nomination.

c.       They also wanted the right to hold the discussion on financial matters but which demand of INC was not allowed.

The then Viceroy Lord Dufferin felt that the time had come to accept the demands of the congress for reform seriously.  

So he appointed a Committee and drew up plans for the enlargement of the Council and association of Indians with the work of the Government.

But the Secretary of State did not agree to the plan of direct elections. He, however, agreed to the representation by way of indirect election.

Important Provisions of the Indian Councils Acts  

This Act increased the number of additional or non- official members in the legislative councils as follows:

-          Central Legislative Council: 10-16 Members.

-          Bengal: 20 Members

-          Madras: 20 Members

-          Bombay: 08 Members

-          Oudh: 15 Members { Lucknow}

-          North Western Province: 15 Members.

The non-officials members were also given the right to ask questions on the Budget (earlier which was barred in the Indian Council Act 1861) or on matters of public interest but they had to give notice of 6 days for it,

But in this Act also the non-official members cannot ask the supplementary questions.

The President of the Council had the power to disallow any question without giving any reason.

The principle of representation was initiated through this Act. The District Boards, Universities, municipalities, Chamber of Commerce and Zamindars were authorised to recommend members to the provincial councils.

The Legislative Councils were empowered to make new laws and repeal old laws with the permission of the Viceroy.

What were the main results of this Act?

 It was the first step towards a representative form of Government.

The number of Indians was increased in the legislature.

Limitations of the Act

The system of election introduced by this Act was defective.

It did not give the representation to the people in the real sense.

Certain classes of people were over-represented while other had no representation at all.

For Example: In Bombay Council 6 seats were allotted to the European Merchants but the Indian Merchants were given none.

The powers of Legislative Councils were very limited.

The number of non-official members was very small.

                                            The Indian Council Act, 1909

The Indian Council Act, 1909 is also popularly known as “Morley-Minto Reforms”.

Lord Morley was the then Secretary of State for India and Lord Minto was the then Viceroy of India.

This Act considerably increased the size of the legislative councils, both at the Central and Provincial Level.

The number of members in the Central Legislative Council was raised from 16 to 60 members. However, the number of members in the provincial legislative councils was not uniform.

This Act retained the majority of official members in the Central Legislative Council, whereas it allowed the majority of non-official members in the Provincial Legislative Councils.

It allowed the non-officials members as well to ask supplementary questions, move resolutions on the budget and so on.

It provided (for the first time) for the association of Indian with the executive councils of viceroy and Governors.

Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the First Indian who joined the Viceroy’s executive council. He was appointed as the Law Member.

It introduced a system of communal representation from Muslims by accepting the concept of “Separate Electorate”.

Under this Separate Electorate, the Muslims members were to be selected only by the Muslim Voters.

Thus this Act had made the communalism legalized and Lord Minto came to be known as the    “Father of Communal Electorate”.

 This Act also provided for the separate representation of presidency corporations, chamber of commerce, universities and Zamindars.

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