Historical background.

 The British came to India in 1600 as a trader in the form of East India
Company, under a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I.
 In 1765, the company which had purely trading right obtained the Diwani
(that is right over revenue and civil judge) of Bengal, Bihar and Orisha.
 The Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II granted ‘Diwani’ to the company after
its victory in the Battle of Buxar (1764).
 In 1858, the British crown assumed direct responsibility for the
governance of India.
 India became independent on 15 August 1947.
 MN Roy (a communist leader) first given the idea of a constitution in 1934.
 To draft constitution the Constituent Assembly was formed in 1946 under
the Cabinet Mission.

The Company Rule (1773 — 1858):

Regulation Act of 1773:

 This the first step by British Government to control and regulate the affairs
of the East India Company in India.
 It designated the Governor of Bengal as the Governor-General of Bengal
and created an Executive Council of 4-members to assist him with making
the Governors of Bombay and Madras his subordinate.
 The first Governor-General of Bengal was Lord Warren Hastings.
 It provided for the establishment of a Supreme Court in Kolkata in 1774.
 The first Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court was Eliza Impey.
 It prohibited the servants of the company from engaging in any private
trade or accepting presents or bribes from the natives.
 It creates a body called “Court of Directors” to regulate the affairs of the
company.
Pitt’s India Act of 1784:
 An amendment act of 1781 also known as the “Act of Settlement”, was
passed to rectify the defects of the Regulation Act of 1773.
 Pitt’s India Act of 1784 was next important act.
 It distinguishes between the commercial and political functions of the
company.
 It allowed the Court of Directors to manage commercial affairs, but
created a new body called “Board of Control” to manage the political
affairs of the company.

Charter Act of 1813:

 This Act ended East India Company’s monopoly of trade with India and
provided to grant a sum of 1 lakh rupees for education in India.
 Though, the monopoly in tea and trade with China remain intact.

Charter Act of 1833:

 It made the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor-General of India
and vested in him all Civil, Military, and Legislative powers.
 The first Governor-General of India was Lord William Bentick.
 It deprived the governors of Bombay and Madras of their legislature
powers.
 It ended the activities of the East India Company as a commercial body,
which became a Purely Administrative Body.
 A Law Commission was formed in 1834 under Lord Thomas Babington
Macaulay for codification of law, which was the first Law Commission of
India. Whereas, the first Law Commission of Independent India
was formed in 1955 with its chairman M. C. Setalvad.
 The Law Commission of India is neither a statutory nor a constitutional
body.

Charter Act of 1853:

  It separated, for the first time, the legislative and executive functions
of the Governor-General’s Council.
 It provided for addition of 6 new members called Legislative
Councillors to the council. In other words, it established a separate
Governor-General’s Legislative Council which came to be known as the
Indian Legislative Council (Central Legislative). This council acts as a
mini- parliament and follow the same procedure as the British
Parliament.
 It introduced an open competition exam system to appoint civil
servants. Accordingly, the Thomas Babington Macaulay Committee
(the Committee on the Indian Civil Service) was appointed in 1854.
 It allowed the company to retain the possession of Indian territories on
trust for British crown, but did not specify time unlike previous
charters.
 For the first time, it introduced local representation in the Indian
Legislative Council. Out of 6 new legislative members of the Governor-
General’s Council, 4 members were appointed by the local (provincial)
Governments of Madras, Bombay, Bengal and Agra.

The Crown Rule (1858 — 1947):

The Government of India Act, 1858:

 This act was enacted in the wake of the revolt of 1857—also known as the
First War of Independence (V.D. Savarkar) or Sipoy Mutiny (by British
historian — George Bruce Malleson).
 This act known as the act of ‘Good Government in India’ and abolished
the East India Company, and transferred the powers of government on
territories and revenues to the British Crown in 1858.
 This act changes the designation of the Governor-General of India as
‘Viceroy of India’ and he is the direct representative of the British crown
in India.
 The first Viceroy + Governor- General of India — Lord Canning.
  It ended the system of “Double Government” by abolishing the Board of
Control (for political affairs) and Court of Directors (for commercial
efforts).
 It created a new office, the Secretary of State for India, and 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.
 It established a 15-member Council of India to assist the Secretary of State
for India. This council was an advisory body and its chairman was the
Secretary of the State.

The Indian Council Act 1861:

 It made a beginning of representative institutions by associating Indians
with the law-making process.
 It provided that viceroy should nominate some Indians as non-official
members of his expanded council. They are Raja of Banaras, the Maharaja
of Patiala and Sir Dinkar Rao.
 It allowed the viceroy to make rules and orders for the more convenient
transactions of business in the council.
 It empowered the viceroy to issue ordinance which last for 6 months from
the date of issue.

The Government of India Act 1909:

 This act was known as Morley – Minto reforms.
 Lord Morley —Secretary of the State and Lord Minto —Viceroy.
 All India Muslim League was established in Dhaka in 1906 by Sir Khwaja
Salimullah, Vikar-ul-Mulk, Syed Amir Ali, Syed Nabiullah, Khan Bahadur
Ghulam and Mustafa Chowdhury) met the then viceroy Lord Minto to
protect the interest of Muslims.
 The Honorary president of the league was Sir Sultan Mohammad Shah
(Aga Khan III).
 It considerably increased the size of Legislative Councils, both in central
and provincial. The number of members in the Central Legislative Council
raised from 16 to 60.
  It provided for the first time for the association of Indians with the
Executive Councils of the Viceroy.
 First Indian to join Viceroy’s Executive Council — Satyendra Prasad Sinha.
 It introduced a system of Communal Representation for Muslims by
accepting the concept of ‘Separate Electorate’. So, Lord Minto became the
father of Communal Electorate in India.

Government of India Act 1919:

 On 20 August 1917, the British Government declared for the first time that
its objective is the gradual introduction of responsible government in India
and hence, the government of India act 1919 was enacted, which came
into force in 1921. This act was known as Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms.
 Montagu —the Secretary of the State for India and Lord Chelmsford —the
Viceroy of India.
 It relaxed the central control over the provinces by demarcating and
separating the central and provincial subjects. The central and provincial
legislatures were authorised to make laws on their respective list of
subjects.
 This act further divided the provincial subjects into two parts —
transferred and reserved. The transferred subjects were to be
administered by the governor with the aid of Ministers responsible to the
Legislature Council. The reserved subsets, on the other hand, were to be
administered by the Governor and his executive council without being
responsible to the Legislature Council. This dual scheme of governance
was known as ‘Dyarchy’ — a term derived from the Greek word di-arche,
which means double rule. However, this experiment was largely
unsuccessful.
 By this act “Dyarchy” was first introduced in India by the British.
 It introduced for the first-time, Bicameralism and direct elections in the
country. Thus, the Indian Legislative Council was replaced by a bicameral
legislature consisting of an Upper House (Council of State) and a Lower
House (Legislative Assembly). The majority of members of both the
houses were chosen by direct election.
 It extended the principle of communal representation by providing
separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and
Europeans.
  It granted franchise (voting right) to a limited number of people on the
basis of property, tax or education.
 It created a new office of the High Commissioner for India in London and
transferred to him some of the functions hitherto performed by the
Secretary of State for India.
 It provided for the establishment of a Public Service Commission and
hence a Central Public Service Commission was set up in 1926 for
recruiting Civil Servants in India.
 It separated for the first time Provincial Budget from the Central Budget
and authorised the provincial legislatures to enact their own budgets.
 It also, provided for the appointment of a Statutory Commission to
inquire into and report on its working after 10 years of its coming into
force.

Simon Commission:
 In November, 1927 the British government announced the appointment
of a 7- member Statutory Commission under the chairmanship of Sir John
Simon to report on the condition of India under its new constitution.
 All the members of the commission were British and hence all the parties
boy-cotted the commission.
 The commission submitted its report in 1930 and recommended the
abolition of Dyarchy, Extension of Responsible Government in the
provinces, Establishment of a Federation of British India and Prince States,
continuation of Communal Electorate and so on.
 To consider the proposals of the commission the British government
convened three Round Table Conferences of the representatives of the
British Government, British Indian Provinces and Indian Princely States.
On the basis of these discussions, a ‘White Paper on Constitutional
Reforms’ was prepared and submitted for the consideration of the Joint
Select Committee of the British Parliament. The Recommendations of this
committee were incorporated in the Government of India Act 1935.
Communal Award:
 In August, 1932 Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister,
announced a scheme of representation of the minorities, which came to
be known as the Communal Award.
 The award not only continued separate electorates for the Muslims,
Sheikh, Indian-Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans but also extended
it to its depressed classes (Scheduled Castes).
 Gandhiji was distressed over this extension of the principle of communal
representation to the depressed classes and undertook a fast unto death
in Yeravada Jail (Poona), to get the award modified.
 Finally, there was an agreement between Gandhiji, Dr. Babasaheb
Ambedkar (on behalf of Dalits and depressed classes) and Madan Mohan
Malviya (on behalf of upper caste Hindus) on 24 September 1932 which is
known as Poona Pact.

Government of India Act, 1935:

 It was a lengthy and detailed document having 321 sections and 10
schedules.
 It provided for the establishment of an All-India Federation consisting of
British Indian Provinces and Princely States as units. The act divided the
powers between centre and provinces in terms of three lists, namely —
Federal List (for centre with 59 items), Provincial List (for provinces with
54 items) and the Concurrent List (for both with 36 items).
 The residuary powers were given to the Viceroy by this act.
 In the Constitution of India Article 248 vests the residuary power to the
parliament.
 It abolished Dyarchy in the provinces and introduced ‘Provincial
Autonomy’ in its place. The provinces were allowed to act as autonomous
units of administration in their defined spheres. This came into effect in
1937 and was discontinued, in 1939.
  It provided for the adoption of “Dyarchy” in the centre, consequently, the
federal subjects were divided into reserved subjects and transferred
subjects. However, this provision of the act did not come into operation at
all.
 It introduced Bicameralism in 6 out of 11 provinces. Thus, the Legislature
of Bengal, Bombay, Madras, Bihar, Assam and the United Provinces were
made bicameral consisting of a Legislative Council (Upper House) and a
Legislative Assembly (Lower House). However, many restrictions were
placed on them.
 Now there are 6 states in India out of 28 states having bicameral
legislature, namely- Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha
Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. If a state Legislature has only one chamber
which is Legislative Assembly, then it is called “Unicameral Legislature”.
On the other hand, if a state has both Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha)
and Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) then it is called “Bicameral
Legislature”.
 It further extended the principle of communal representation to women
and labourers.
 It abolished the Council of India established by the government of India at
1958.
 It extended franchise and about 10% of the total population got to the
voting right.
 It provided for the establishment of a Reserve Bank of India to control the
currency and credit of the country.
 The Reserve Bank of India was established on 1st April 1935.
 It provided for the establishment of not only a Federal Public Service
Commission, but also a Provincial Public Service Commission and Joint
Public Service Commission for two or more provinces.
 It provided for the establishment of a Federal Court which was set up in
1937.

Indian Independence Act of 1947:

 On February 20, 1947, the British Prime Minister, Clement Atlee declared
that the British rule in India would end by June 30, 1948; after which the
power would be transferred to responsible Indian hands.
 The Indian Independence Bill was introduced in the British Parliament on
July 4, 1947 and received the Royal Assent on July 18, 1947. The act came
into force on August 15, 1947.
 The boundaries between the two dominions were determined by a
boundary commission headed by Radcliff.
 The Radcliffe Line was the boundary line between India and Pakistan,
which is named after Cyril Radcliffe, who was the joint chairman of the
two boundary commissions for the two provinces.
 The referendum in the North-Western Frontier Province and Sylhet was in
favour of Pakistan.
 This announcement was followed by the Muslim league demanding
partition of the country.
 It ended in the British rule in India and declared India as an Independent
and Sovereign State from 15 August 1947.
 It abolished the office of Viceroy and provided, for each dominion a
Governor-General who was to be appointed by the British King on the
advice of the Dominion Cabinet.
 It empowered the constituent assemblies of the two dominions to frame
and adopt any constitution for their respective nations and to repeal any
act of British Parliament, including the Independence Act itself.
 It granted freedom to the Indian Princely States either to join the
dominion of India or dominion of Pakistan, or to remain independent.
 It provided for the governance of each of the dominions and the provinces
by the Government of India Act 1935, till the new constitution were
framed.
 It deprived the British Monarch of his rights to pay to veto bills or ask for
reservation of certain bills for his approval, but this right was reserved for
the Governor-General.
 At the midnight of 14-15 August 1947, the British rule came to an end, and
the power was transferred to the new two independent dominions of
India and Pakistan.
 Lord Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of British India and became the
first Governor-General of Independent India (Dominion of India). The
Constituent Assembly of India formed in 1946 became the Parliament of
the Indian Dominion.
 Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (C. Rajagopalachari) was the first Indian
Governor-General of Independent India, also he was the last Governor-
General of Independent India.
  The interim government of India formed on 2nd September 1946 from the
newly elected Constituent Assembly of India. They had the task of
assisting the transfer of power from British rule to Independent India.

Interim Government of 1946:

Serial No. Name of Member Portfolios Held

1 Jawaharlal Nehru External Affairs and Commonwealth
Relations
2 Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Home, Information and Broadcasting

3 Dr. Rajendra Prasad Food and Agriculture

4 Dr. John Mathai Industries and Supplies

5 Jagjivan Ram Labour

6 Sardar Baldev Singh Defence

7 C. H. Bhabha Works, Mines and Power

8 Liaquat Ali Khan Finance

9 Abdur Rab Nishtar Posts and Air

10 Asaf Ali Railways and Transport

11 C. Rajagopalachari Education and Arts

12 I. I. Chundrigar Commerce

13 Ghaznafar Ali Khan Health

14 Joginder Nath Mandal Law

Note:
 Members of the interim government were members of the Viceroy’s
Executive Council.
 The Viceroy continued to be the head of the council.
 Jawaharlal Nehru was designated as the Vice-President of the Council.

First Cabinet of Free India (1947):

Serial No. Name of Member Portfolios Held

1 Jawaharlal Nehru Prime Minister, External Affairs &
Commonwealth Relations, and Scientific
Research
2 Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Home, Information & Broadcasting, and
States
3 Dr. Rajendra Prasad Food & Agriculture

4 Dr. John Mathai Railways & Transport

5 Jagjivan Ram Labour

6 Sardar Baldev Singh Defence

7 C. H. Bhabha Commerce

8 Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Education

9 R.K. Shanmugham Chetty Finance

10 Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Law

11 Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur Health

12 Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Communication

13 Dr. Shyam Prasad Mukherji Industries & Supplies

14 V.N. Gadgil Works, Mines & Power