Constitutional Development

in Colonial India-1
● The Regulating Act, 1773
● The Charter Act 1833
● The Government of India Act, 1858
● The Indian Councils Act, 1861
● The Indian Councils Act 1892 
● The Indian Councils Act, 1909 
● The Government of India Act, 1919

1
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The system of governance that had evolved in
Bengal over centuries was discontinued after the
establishment of colonial rule.
● The colonial system of governance began, initially
on a despotic basis but gradually yielded to
western model.
● It had its genesis in the Regulating Act of 1773
culminating in the Government of India Act 1935.
● Since 1947, constitutional development followed
the model established in the colonial period.

2
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Regulating Act, 1773 –
● According to this Act Bengal and other Presidencies were
to be regulated and controlled by a central authority
called Governor General-in-Council of the FORT
WILLIAM in Bengal.
● The Council was to consist of four members nominated by
Parliament and held office for a period of five years.
● The Governor General-in-Council had legislative powers to
frame and promulgate Regulations subject to publication
in the Supreme Court to be established in Calcutta by the
King-in-Council of England.
● It laid the central government in India.
● It also provided the establishment of Supreme Court in
Calcutta 3
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Regulating Act, 1773 –
● This act was followed by a series of charter acts and a few
parliamentary acts.
● The main objectives of the charter acts were to assert the
sovereignty of the British Crown over the Indian
territories (1813-opened India to missionaries, extended
the company rule for 29 years and limited the commercial
activities to tea and trade with China),
● create structures of provincial governments in India
(1833),
● empower the executive council with a view to facilitating
legislations (1853) and so on.

4
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Charter Act 1833
● The original Council of India was established by the
Charter Act of 1833 as a council of four formal advisors to
the Governor-General( GG of Bengal was made the GG of
India) at Fort William.
● The Governor-General in Council was subordinate only to
the East India Company's Court of Directors and to the
British Crown.
● The Act was the first law to distinguish between the
executive and legislative responsibilities of the Governor-
General.
● As provided under the Act, there were to be four members
of the Council elected by the Court of Directors.
● The first three members were permitted to participate5 on
all occasions, but the fourth member was only allowed to
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Government of India Act, 1858 -declared the end of
company rule, and the beginning of rule by the Crown.
● Since then the head of the colonial state represented the
British Crown, and on that count he was designated as
Governor General and Viceroy of India.
● It was provided in the Act that the powers and functions
that used to be exercised by the COURT OF DIRECTORS
(the executive body of the East India Company at the
Leadenhall Street in London, the headquarters of the
company, until its abolition in 1858).
● BOARD OF CONTROL(worked as the supreme body looking
after the affairs of the colonial state of India under
the BEIC from 1784 to 1858. The Board was appointed by
the British Parliament) were to be exercised by the
Secretary of State for India. 6
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Government of India Act, 1858-
● A Council of 15 members was formed to assist him.
● The Secretary of State for India was to be a member of
the British cabinet and was responsible to parliament.
● The Act empowered the crown to appoint the viceroy of
India and the governors of the provinces.
● It also provided for the creation of the Indian Civil Service
(ICS) under the control of the Secretary of State for India.

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 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Indian Councils Act, 1861-(representative
government)
● Queen Victoria's Declaration of 1858 mentioned that
Indians would be associated with the governance of India
and of creating representative institutions in order to
prepare the people for self-rule.
● The immediate result of the Declaration was the Indian
Council Act, 1861.
● For the purposes of legislation, the Governor General's
Council was reinforced by additional members, (between
6-12 members), nominated for two years, of whom
● not less than half were to be non-officials(typically,
zamindars, Rulers of the Princely states, lawyers,
journalists, merchants and so on nominated by GG but8
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Indian Councils Act, 1861 
● The legislative powers of the Governor General-in-Council
were extended over all persons, both British and Indian,
within the British Indian territories.
● The Governor General was directed to set up a legislative
council for Bengal.
● The Bengal Legislative Council was set up with twelve
members of whom four were Indians.
● The Governor General's Council was authorized to
legislate for the whole of India, and
● the provincial councils for the provinces, and thus the
framework for a federal government was foreshadowed.

9
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● Demand for Further Reforms 
● The seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century saw a
rapid growth of political consciousness among the Indian
people.
● The western education system, emergence of an educated
middle class, and growth of public opinion, political
associations, growth of vernacular literature had created a
tremendous urge for western institutions of governance.
● The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885 with a
positive program for acquiring self-rule in phases.
● In view of the Liberal Government in England and a
changed political environment in British India, LORD
RIPON (1880-1884) took the initiative in 1882 to introduce
local self-government in India.
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 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● Demand for Further Reforms 
● The INC also expressed grave dissatisfaction with the
existing authoritarian system of government and had
been demanding reforms of the legislative councils.
● With a view to satisfying the demands of the people Lord
Dufferin appointed a committee to examine the issues and
make a report.
● The Indian Councils Act of 1892 was the result of the
recommendations.

11
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Indian Councils Act 1892 
● The Act expanded the size of the Governor General's
legislative council by providing that the number of
additional members would be between 10-16.
● The members were to be nominated, subject to the
approval of the Secretary of State.
● It was laid down that two-fifths of the additional
members were to be non-official,
● and the principle of election was conceded in their
cases in a limited way, in the sense that after being so
elected they had to be nominated by the government.

12
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Indian Councils Act 1892 
● Of the 16 additional members in the legislative council,
● 6 were official members,
● 5 were nominated non-official members and
● 5 were elected, (1 by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce,
and 4 from the four provincial councils).
● Thus, the principle of election, though not from any
territorial constituency and of a limited scale, was
introduced for the first time in Indian history.

13
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Indian Councils Act 1892
● In the formation of the provincial councils of Bengal,
Madras and Bombay, the number of additional members
was also increased with a minimum of 8 and maximum of
20.
● The maximum number of additional members of the
Bengal Presidency was fixed at 20 and those of the North-
Western Province and Oudh at 15.
● This Act also provided that the members would have the
right to ask questions, and to discuss, though not to vote
upon, the budget.

14
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Indian Councils Act 1892
● The Indian Councils Act of 1892 was significant in the
sense that
● it not only increased the number of non-official members
of the legislative bodies both at the provincial and central
levels,
● but also introduced the principle of election in a limited
way through such constituencies as municipal bodies,
district boards, chambers of commerce, university senates
and zamindars Association.

15
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India

● Further Reforms 
● In a letter dated 6 June 1906 Lord Morley, the new
Secretary of State for India, conveyed to LORD MINTO, the
Viceroy of India, his desire to 'adapt English political
institutions to the nations who inhabit India'.
● Under these socio-political conditions, Lord Minto
appointed a committee with Sir Arundale as its head to
report on the necessity of reforms.
● The bill was drafted in the light of these developments.
● The British cabinet approved of it and in February 1909
parliament made the bill into an Act.

16
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Indian Councils Act, 1909 
● Under this Act the legislative councils, both central and
provincial, were enlarged.
● For the Governor General's Council, the membership was
raised to 60 and
● for the legislative councils of Bombay, Madras, Eastern
Bengal and Assam, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh,
and the Punjab, it was raised to 50.
● Though the Act maintained the majority of the official
members in the Governor General's Council, in the
provincial legislative bodies the non-official members
attained a majority.

17
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Indian Councils Act, 1909 
● When the MORLEY-MINTO REFORMS were under
consideration the Muslims made a demand for separate
Muslim representation commensurate not merely with
their numerical strength, but also
● with their political importance and their contribution to
the defense of the British Indian empire.
● The Muslim claim was admitted and the Act provided for a
separate electorate for the Muslims.
● The Indian Councils Act of 1909 is remarkable in some very
important aspects.
● First, the most spectacular change brought about by the
Act was the abandonment of the majority of the official
members in the provincial legislative councils.
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 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● The Indian Councils Act of 1909 
● Second, the system of election was introduced though it
could not be held through general territorial
constituencies but through such bodies as municipalities,
district boards, chambers of commerce, landlords'
association and other groups of special interests.
● Third, the principle of full-scale election was recognized
for the first time.
● Fourth, the principle of a separate electorate for the
Muslims was established.
● Fifth, in the Governor General's Council, the number of
non-official members was raised.
● Sixth, the scope of discussion in the council was enlarged.
The budget estimates were to be presented to the Council.
● Resolutions on official matters could be moved, and 19
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● Demand for more reforms after the Act of 1909
● The reforms under the Act of 1909, despite its
progressive nature, failed to satisfy the growing
demands of the people.
● There was no general advance in the local bodies, no
real improvement of provincial finance, and the
admission of Indians in greater numbers into the
public service.
● The Indian leaders were looking for full-fledged
responsible government in India, but these reforms
fell far short of it.
● Even then the moderate politicians believed that the
new institutions would be instrumental to make the20
government responsive to the views of Indian
 Constitutional Development
in Colonial India
● Having this in view, after prolonged deliberations and
thorough study of Indian affairs in collaboration with the
Viceroy, Lord Montagu Chelmsford published a report on
Indian constitutional problems in July 1918. The report
laid down four governing principles guiding the new
constitutional framework:
● (a) There should be a large measure of popular control in
local self-governing bodies;
● (b) The progressive realization of responsible government
should be undertaken in the provinces;
● (c) The Government of India must remain wholly
responsible to parliament;
● (d) To give effect to the changes the control of parliament
and the Secretary of State over the Government of India
and the provincial governments must be relaxed. 21
 The Government of India Act 1919
● The recommendations contained in the report were
embodied in a Bill which was passed by the House of
Commons on 23 December 1919 as the Government of
India Act, 1919 which was given effect to in 1921.
● The Government of India Act, 1919
● Its most important feature is the dyarchy in the provinces.
● It marked the first introduction of the democratic
principle into the executive branch of the British
administration of India.
● Though much-criticized, it signified a breakthrough in
British Indian government and was the forerunner of
India’s full provincial autonomy (1935) and independence
(1947).
● The principle of dyarchy was a division of the executive
branch of each provincial government 22
 The Government of India Act 1919
● The first was composed of executive councilors, appointed,
as before, by the crown.
● The second was composed of ministers who were chosen
by the governor from the elected members of the
provincial legislature. These latter ministers were Indians.
● The various fields, or subjects of administration were
divided between the councilors and the ministers, being
named reserved and transferred subjects, respectively.
● The reserved subjects came under the heading of law and
order and included justice, the police, land revenue, and
irrigation.
● The transferred subjects (i.e., those under the control of
Indian ministers) included local self-government,
education, public health, public work, and agriculture,
forests, and fisheries. The system ended with the 23
 The Government of India Act 1919
● The Imperial Legislative Council was enlarged and
reformed. It became a bicameral legislature for all India.
● Salient features of the Act were as follows:
● 1. This Act had a separate Preamble which declared that
the objective of the British Government was the gradual
introduction of responsible government in India.
● 2. Diarchy was introduced at the Provincial Level.
● 3. The Act kept the Income Tax as source of revenue to the
Central Government. However, for Bengal and Bombay, to
meet their objections, a provision to assign them 25% of
the income tax was made.
● 4. No bill of the legislature could be deemed to have been
passed unless assented to by the governor general. The
latter could however enact a bill without the assent of the
legislature. 24
 The Government of India Act 1919
● 5. This Act made the central legislature bicameral. The
lower house was the Legislative Assembly, with 145 (104
were elected and 41 were nominated) members serving
three year terms (the model for today's Lok Sabha);
● The upper house was the Council of States with 60 (34
elected and 26 nominated members) members serving five
year terms (the model for today's Rajya Sabha)
● 6. The Act provided for the establishment of a Public
Service Commission in India for the first time.
● 7. This act also made a provision that a statutory
commission would be set up at the end of 10 years after
the act was passed which shall inquire into the working
system of the government.
● The Simon commission of 1927 was an outcome of this
provision.
25
 The Government of India Act 1919
● 8. The communal representation was extended and Sikhs,
Europeans and Anglo Indians were included.
● 9. Those people who had a property, taxable income &
paid land revenue of Rs. 3000 were entitled to vote.
● 10. The seats were distributed among the provinces not
upon the basis of the population but upon the basis of
their importance in the eyes of the government, on the
basis of communities, and property was one of the main
basis to determine a franchisee.
● 11. The financial powers of the central legislature were
also very much limited. The budget was to be divided into
two categories, votable and non-votable.

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 The Government of India Act 1919
● The votable items covered only one third of the total
expenditure.
● Even in this sphere the Governor-General was empowered
to restore any grant refused or reduced by the legislature,
if in his opinion the demand was essential for the
discharge of his responsibilities.
● Thus the Government of India Act provided for partial
transfer of power to the electorate through the system of
diarchy.
● It also prepared the ground for Indian federalism, as it
identified the provinces as units of fiscal and general
administration.

27
 Summary

● "The Acts of 1773 and 1784 were designed to establish a

regular system of administration and justice under the
East India Company.
● The Act of 1833 paved the way for Indians to public office
and employment.
● The Act of 1858 transferred the administration from the
Company to the Crown.
● The Act of 1861 laid the foundation of representative
institutions.
● The Act of 1909 became law which entrusted the elected
representative of the people with a definite share in the
Government and points the way to full responsible
Government hereafter.
● The Act of 1919 strengthened and consolidated 28
responsible government in India.