NOTES ON WBCS MAIN COMPULSORY INDIAN CONSTITUTION/HANDOUT: 1

Anuradha Basu
✓ INDIAN CONSTITUTION: THE LANDMARKS
The landmarks in the development of the Indian Constitution are:
• Regulating act, 1773 :
a) First step taken by the British Government to control and regulate the affairs of the East
India Company in India.
b) Post of Governor of Bengal was renamed as Governor General of Bengal [1st Governor
General of Bengal – Lord Warren Hastings].
c) Supreme Court was established at Fort Williams in Calcutta in 1774 [1st Chief Justice of SC at
Calcutta – Elijah Impey].
d) It subordinated the Governors of Bombay and Madras to the Governor General of Bengal.
• Pitt’s India Act,1784 :
a) The act placed the Indian affairs under the direct control of the British Government. The act
clearly distinguished the commercial and political function of the company.
b) Company’s territories in India were called the British Possessions in India for the first time.
c) It established a Board of Control over the Board of Directors of the Company. The Board of
Control was to manage the political affairs in India and it used to give report to British
parliament.
• Charter Act,1813 :
a) End of Monopoly of East India Company in India. However Company’s monopoly in trade on
‘Tea’ with India was kept intact.
b) The Christian Missionaries were allowed to spread their religion in India.
• Charter Act,1833 :
a) Post of Governor General of Bengal was renamed as Governor General of India and vested
in him all civil and military powers [1st Governor General of India was – Lord William
Bentick).
b) It deprived the Governor of Bombay and Madras of their legislative powers. The Governor
General of India was given exclusive legislative powers for the entire British India.
c) It ended the activities of the British East India Company as a commercial body, which
became a purely administrative body.
• Charter Act, 1853 :
➢ It introduced a system of open competition system of selection and recruitment of civil
servants. Accordingly, the Macaulay Committee (The committee on the Indian Civil
Service) was appointed in 1854.
• Government of India Act,1858 :
a) The rule of Company was replaced by the rule of Crown in India.
b) It changed the designation of Governor General of India to that of Viceroy of India. He was
the direct representative of the British Crown in India [1st Viceroy of India – Lord Canning].
 c) It created a new office Secretary of State for India, vested with complete authority and
control over Indian Administration. The Secretary of State was a member of the British
Cabinet and was responsible ultimately to the British Parliament.
d) India was for the purpose of Administration classified to British India and Princely States.
The Princely states were to show allegiance to the Crown. The powers of the British crown
were to be exercised by the Secretary of State for India.
• Indian Councils Act,1861 :
a) Portfolio System was introduced [1st inaugurated by – Lord Canning].
b) It empowered the Viceroy to issue Ordinances.
c) It made a beginning of representative institutions by associating Indians with the law making
process. In 1862, the then Viceroy Lord Canning nominated three Indians to his legislative
Council – i) The Raja of Benaras, ii) The Maharaja of Patiala, iii) Sir Dinakar Rao.
• Indian Councils Act,1909 [Morley-Minto Reforms/ Secretary of State for India : Lord Morley,
Viceroy of India : Lord Minto]:
a) The number of members of the Legislative Council at the Centre was increased from 16 to
60.
b) The right of separate electorate was given to the Muslims.
c) It provided for the first time for the association of Indians with the Executive Council of
Viceroy. Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy’s Executive
Council.
• Government of India Act,1919 [Montague-Chelmsford Reforms/Secretary of State for India :
Edwin Montague, Viceroy of India : Lord Chelmsford]:
a) The act provided for a dual form of government (Dyarchy) for the provinces.
b) Provision of reserved list (defence, foreign affairs, communication etc.) and transferred list
(agriculture, health, education etc.) were incorporated.
c) It introduced bi-cameralism at the centre.
The act of 1919 had provided for the appointment of a commission to review the
provisions of the act. The British Government announced the appointment of a seven
member statutory commission (1927) under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon but all
parties in India boycotted the commission.

• Nehru Report, 1928 :

The Nehru report was a memorandum outlining a proposed new dominion status constitution
for India prepared by a committee of the All Parties Conference chaired by Motilal Nehru.
Important elements of the report are:
a) It contained a Bill of Rights.
b) There shall be no state religion.
c) There should be federal form of Government with residuary powers vested in the Centre.
d) Provinces should be linguistically determined.

• Government of India Act, 1935 :

 a) The act provided for the establishment of an All India federation consisting of the provinces
and princely states as the units.
b) The act divided the powers between the centre and the provinces in terms of three lists,
namely Federal List, Provincial List and Concurrent List.
c) The act abolished Dyarchy in the provinces and introduced provincial autonomy.
d) It introduced for the adoption of Dyarchy at the Centre.
• Indian Independence Act, 1947 :
a) It ended the British rule in India.
b) It provided for the partition of India and creation of two independent dominions India and
Pakistan. Boundaries between the two Dominions were determined by a Boundary
Commission headed by Radcliff.
c) It abolished the office of Viceroy and provided for each dominion a Governor General.
d) It abolished the office of the Secretary of state for India and transferred his functions to the
Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs.
e) Lord Mountbatten became the first Governor General of New Dominion India and later
C.Rajagopalachari became the last Governor General of India as India soon became Republic
in 1950.

✓ TOWARDS A NEW ERA : MAKING OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION

• The Constituent Assembly
➢ Type – Unicameral
➢ Founded – 6th July, 1946 on the basis of Cabinet Mission Plan
➢ Disbanded – 24th January, 1950
➢ Preceded by – Imperial Legislative Council
➢ Succeeded by – Parliament of India
➢ Total Members – 389 (Dec, 1946-June,1947) 299 (June 1947-Jan,1950)
[292 – Elected from 11 Governor’s Provinces.
4 – Nominated from 4 Chief Commissioner’s Provinces (Delhi, Ajmer-Merwara, Coorg,
and British Baluchistan.
93 – Nominated from Princely States]
➢ Political Parties – INC(208), AIML(73), Others(15)
➢ Temporary Chairman – Sachchidananda Sinha (INC)
➢ President – Rajendra Prasad (INC)
➢ Vice Presidents – H.C.Mookherjee
➢ Constitutional Advisor – B.N.Rao
➢ Anglo Indian Representative – Frank Anthony
➢ Prominent women representatives – A group of 15 women representatives were
there i.e. Sarojini Naidu, Sucheta Kripalani, Purnima Banerjee, Bijaylaxmi Pandit,
Renuka Roy etc.
➢ Meeting Place – New Delhi
➢ Total sessions – 11
 ➢ First and Last meeting – 9th December,1946 and 24th January,1950 (On 24th Jan, 284
members signed on the Constitution)
➢ Important personalities who were not members – Gandhi, Jinnah
➢ Chief Draftsman – S.N.Mukherjee

• Chairmen of Different Committees of Constituent Assembly

➢ Dr. B.R.Ambedkar (SCF – Scheduled Casts Federation)
a) Drafting Committee
➢ J.L.Nehru
a) Union Powers Committee
b) Union Constitution Committee
c) States Committee
➢ Dr. Rajendra Prasad
a) Rules of Procedure Committee
b) Steering Committee
c) Ad hoc Committee on the National Flag
d) Finance and Staff Committee
➢ Sarder Vallabhbhai Patel
a) Provincial Constitution Committee
b) Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and
Excluded Areas
➢ Dr. K.M.Munshi
a) Order of Business Committee etc.
• Important Post holders of Interim Government (1946) & free cabinet (1947)
Interim Government
a) J.L.Nehru – Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations
b) Sarder Vallabhbhai Patel – Ministry of Home, Information and Broadcasting
c) Dr. John Mathai – Ministry of Industries
d) Dr. Rajendra Prasad – Ministry of Food and Agriculture
e) Liaquat Ali Khan – Ministry of Finance etc.
Free Cabinet
a) J.L.Nehru – Prime Minister
b) Sarder Patel – Ministry of Home, Information and Broadcasting
c) Dr. Rajendra Prasad – Ministry of Food and Agriculture
d) R.K.Sanmukham Chetty – Ministry of Finance
e) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad – Ministry of Education etc.
• Enforcement of Constitution

The Constitution of India was enforced on 26th January, 1950 and this is referred as Date of
Commencement (Ref. In 1930, 26th January in Lahore Session of INC it was celebrated as a Purna Swaraj
Day). Some provisions of the Constitution pertaining to Citizenship, Elections, Provisional Parliament,
Temporary and Transitional Provision and Short title contained in Articles
5,6,7,8,960,324,366,367,379,380,388,391 and 393 came into force on November 26, 1949.

• Double Role of Constituent Assembly

The Constituent Assembly played double role before enforcement of the constitution. Two
separate functions were assigned to the Assembly that is making of a constitution for free India
and enacting of ordinary laws for the country. These two tasks were to be performed on
separate days. Thus the assembly became the First Parliament of Free India (Dominion
Legislature) and it is also the ‘Precursor’ of Indian Parliament. Whenever the assembly met as a
constituent body it was chaired by Dr. Rajendra Prasad and when it met as the legislative body it
was chaired by G.V.Mavalankar. These two functions continued till November 26, 1949 when
the task of making the constitution was over.

✓ FEDERAL AND UNITARY FEATURES OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION

• Federal Features
1. Dual Polity
2. Written Constitution
3. Division of Powers
4. Supremacy of the Constitution
5. Rigid Constitution
6. Independent Judiciary
7. Bicameralism
• Unitary Features
1. Single Citizenship
2. A strong Centre
3. Single Constitution for Union and States
4. States not indestructible
5. Flexibility of the Constitution
6. Integrated Audit Machinery
7. Integrated Judiciary
• Comments on Indian Federation
1. K.C.Wheare – “The Constitution of India is quasi federal in nature and not strictly federal”.
2. D.D.Basu – “The Constitution of India is neither purely federal nor unitary but it is a
combination of both.”
3. Dr. B.R.Ambedkar – “Our Constitution would be both unitary as well as federal according to
the requirements of time and circumstances.”
4. Granville Austin – “Indian Federalism is a Cooperative Federalism.”
5. From interpretation – “India is federal in form but unitary in spirit.”
✓ UNION AND ITS TERRITORY

• According to Article 1 the territory of India can be classified into three categories :
1. Territories of the states
 2. Union Territories
3. Territories that may be acquired by the Government of India at any time.
• Article 2 empowers the Parliament to ‘admit into the Union of India or to establish new states
on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.’
• Article 3 authorizes the Parliament to –
a) Form a new state by separation of territory from any state or by uniting two or more states
etc.
b) Increase the area of any state
c) Diminish the area of an state
d) Alter the boundaries of any state
e) Alter the name of any state

Notably Article 2 relates to the Admission or Establishment of new states that are not part of the Union
of India. Article 3 on the other hand, relates to the formation of or changes in the existing states of the
Union of India that is an internal adjustment.

Article 3 lays down two conditions in this regard:

1. A bill contemplating the above changes can be introduced in the Parliament only with the prior
recommendation of the President.
2. Before recommending the bill the President has to refer the same to the state legislature
concerned for expressing its views within a specified period.

Further the power of Parliament to form new states includes the power to form a new state or
union territory by uniting a part of any state or union territory to any other state or union
territory (added by 18th amendment act, 1966).

The President or the Parliament is not bound by the views of the state legislature and may
either accept or reject them even if the views are received in time. In case of A Union Territory
no reference need be made to concerned legislature to ascertain its views.