Spectrum Test: Constitutional, Administrative And Judicial Development - UPSC MCQ

The Regulating Act of 1773 was an important legislative act passed by the British Parliament to regulate the affairs of the British East India Company's rule in India. Let's analyze each statement to determine which one is correct:

1. It designated the governor of Bengal as the Governor-General of Bengal.

   • This statement is correct. The Regulating Act of 1773 designated the governor of Bengal as the Governor-General of Bengal, effectively creating the position of Governor-General of India.

2. Earlier before the Act, Governors of Bombay, Madras and Bengal were dependent on each other. Now with this act, it made the Governors of Bombay and Madras Presidencies subordinate to the governor-general of Bengal.

   • This statement is correct. The Regulating Act of 1773 indeed made the Governors of Bombay and Madras Presidencies subordinate to the Governor-General of Bengal.

3. It prohibited the servants of the company from engaging in any private trade.

   • This statement is correct. The Act prohibited employees of the East India Company from engaging in private trade to prevent conflicts of interest.

4. It prohibited the servants of the company from accepting presents or gifts.

   • This statement is correct. The Act prohibited East India Company servants from accepting gifts or presents from Indian rulers or their subjects.

5. The court of directors have to report on its revenue and civil affairs Except for Military Affairs to the British government.

   • This statement is also correct. The Act required the Court of Directors of the East India Company to report on its revenues and civil affairs to the British government, except for military affairs.

Therefore, the correct answer is 2. All of them — all the statements are correct regarding the Regulating Act of 1773.

1. It distinguished between the commercial and political functions of the Company. 

2. It allowed the Court of Directors to manage the commercial affairs but created a new body called Board of Control to manage the political affairs. Thus, it established a system of double government. 

3. It empowered the Board of Control to supervise and direct all operations of the civil and military government or revenues of India's British possessions. 

Thus, the act was significant for two reasons: first, the Company's territories in India were for the first time called the 'British possessions in India'; and second, the British Government was given supreme control over Company's affairs and its administration in India.

1. It deprived the governor of Bombay and Madras of their executive powers. - This statement is correct. The Charter Act of 1833 centralized administrative authority by stripping the governors of Bombay and Madras of their independent legislative powers, making them subordinate to the Governor-General of India. While primarily about legislative powers, this centralization impacted their executive roles significantly, aligning them more closely under the Governor-General’s directives.

2. In this act, the Court of Directors attempted to introduce the system of open competition for selection of civil servants. - This statement is incorrect. The idea of introducing open competition for the selection of civil servants was indeed discussed around the time of the Charter Act of 1833, but it was not implemented until later. The concept of competitive examinations was officially sanctioned much later, notably by the Charter Act of 1853.

Based on these clarifications:

• Statement 1 is correct.
• Statement 2 is incorrect.

The correct response, according to the given options, is:

1. 1 Only

The secretary of state was responsible to the British Parliament not only to the British cabinet. The state-council can also be sued in India. Features of the Act 

1. It provided that India henceforth was to be governed by, and in the name of Her Majesty. It changed the governor-general of India to that of Viceroy of India, He (viceroy) was the direct representative of the British Crown in India. Lord Canning thus became the first Viceroy of India. 

2. It ended the double government system by abolishing the Board of Control and Court of Directors. 

3. 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 British cabinet member and was ultimately responsible to the British Parliament. 

4. It established a 15-member Council of India to assist the secretary of state for India. The council was an advisory body. The secretary of state was made the chairman of the council. 

5. It constituted the secretary of state-in-council as a body corporate, capable of suing and being sued in India and England.

1. It made a beginning of representative institutions by associating Indians with the law-making process. It thus provided that the viceroy should nominate some Indians as non-official members of his expanded council. 

2. In 1862, Lord Canning, the then viceroy, nominated three Indians to his legislative council the Raja of Benaras, the Maharaja of Patiala and Sir Dinkar Rao. 

3. It initiated decentralization by restoring the legislative powers to the Bombay and Madras Presidencies. It thus reversed the centralizing tendency that started from the Regulating Act of 1773 and reached its climax under the Charter Act of 1833. This legislative devolution policy resulted in the grant of almost complete internal autonomy to the provinces in 1937. 

4. It also provided for the establishment of new legislative councils for Bengal, North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP) and Punjab, which were established in 1862, 1866 and 1897 respectively. 

5. It empowered the Viceroy to make rules and orders for the more convenient business transaction in the council. It also gave recognition to the 'portfolio' system, introduced by Lord Canning in 1859. Under this, a member of the Viceroy's council was made in-charge of one or more government departments and was authorized to issue final orders on behalf of the council on matters of his department(s). 

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

Budget was first introduced on 7th April, 1860, two years after the transfer of Indian administration from East-India Company to British Crown. The first Finance Member, who presented the Budget, was James Wilson.

Features of the Act of 1909: 

This Act is also known as Morley-Minto Reforms (Lord Morley was the then Secretary of State for India and Lord Minto was the then Viceroy of India). 

1. It considerably increased the size of the legislative councils, both Central and provincial. The number of members in the Central Legislative Council was raised from 16 to 60. The number of members in the provincial legislative councils was not uniform 

2. It retained an official majority in the Central Legislative Council but allowed the provincial legislative councils to have a non-official majority 

3. It enlarged the deliberative functions of the legislative councils at both levels. For example, members were allowed to ask supplementary questions, move resolutions on the budget, etc. 

4. It provided (for the first time) for the association of Indians with the Viceroy and Governors' executive councils. Satyendra Prasad Sinha became the first Indian to join the Viceroy's Executive Council. He was appointed as the law member 

5. It introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims. 

6. It also provided for the separate representation of Presidency corporations, Chambers of Commerce, Universities and zamindars.

Features of the India Act of 1919 

1. It relaxed the central control over the provinces by demarcating and separating the central and provincial subjects. The central and provincial legislatures were authorized to make laws on their respective list of subjects. However, the structure of the government continued to be centralized and unitary. 

2. It further divided the provincial subjects into two parts—transferred and reserved. The governor administered the transferred subjects with the aid of ministers responsible to the Legislative Council. On the other hand, the reserved subjects were to be administered by the governor and his executive council without being responsible to the Legislative Council. This dual scheme of governance was known as 'dyarchy’—a term derived from the Greek word dyarchy, which means the double rule. However, this experiment was largely unsuccessful. 

3. 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. 

4. It required that the three of the six members of the Viceroy's Executive Council (other than the commander-in-chief) were Indian. 

5. It extended the principle of communal representation by providing separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans. 

6. It granted a franchise to a limited number of people based on property, tax or education. 

7. 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. 

8. It provided for the establishment of a public service commission. Hence, a Central Public Service Commission was set up in 1926 for recruiting civil servants. 

9. It separated, for the first time, provincial budgets from the Central budget and authorized the provincial legislatures to enact their budgets. 

10. It provided a statutory commission appointed to inquire into and report on its working after ten years of its coming into force.

Statement 1 is correct. The Government of India Act of 1935 abolished the Council of India and the office of the secretary of state.

Statement 2 is correct. The Act provided separate electorates for women.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The Act did provide for provincial autonomy, but it did not allow provinces to act as fully autonomous units of administration.

Statement 4 is correct. The Act had 10 Schedules.

Statement 5 is correct. The Act did provide for the establishment of the Reserve Bank of India and a monetary policy committee to control the currency and credit of the country.