Spectrum Summary: Constitutional, Administrative and Judicial Developments | History for UPSC CSE PDF Download

The inception of the East India Company in 1600 and its evolution from a trading entity to a governing authority in 1765 initially had minimal influence on Indian politics and governance. However, the era spanning from 1773 to 1858, during Company rule, followed by British Crown rule until 1947, experienced a multitude of constitutional and administrative transformations. While these changes were intended to align with British imperial ideology, they inadvertently infused elements of the modern State into India's political and administrative framework.

Logo of East India Company

Constitutional Development between 1773 and 1858

• After the Battle of Buxar (1764), the East India Company got the Diwani (right to collect revenue) of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa.
• 1767- The first intervention in Indian affairs by the British government came in 1767.
• 1765-72- This period was characterized by:
  (i) Rampant corruption among servants of the Company who made full use of private trading to enrich themselves.
  (ii) Excessive revenue collection and oppression of peasantry.
  (iii) Company’s bankruptcy, while the servants were flourishing.

The Regulating Act of 1773

• British government’s involvement in Indian affairs in the effort to control and regulate the functioning of the East India Company. It recognized that the Company’s role in India extended beyond mere trade to administrative and political fields, and introduced the element of centralized administration.
• Directors of the Company were required to submit all correspondence regarding revenue affairs and civil and military administration to the government.
• In Bengal, the administration was to be carried out by the governor-general and a council consisting of 4 members, representing the civil and military government. They were required to function according to the majority rule.
• A Supreme Court of judicature was to be established in Bengal with original and appellate jurisdictions where all subjects could seek redressal. In practice, however, the Supreme Court had a debatable jurisdiction vis-a-vis the council which created various problems.
• Governor-general could exercise some powers over Bombay and Madras again, a vague provision that created many problems.
• Amendments (1781)
  (i) Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was defined within Calcutta, it was to administer the personal law of the defendant.
  (ii) Servants of the government were immune if they did anything while discharging their duties.
  (iii) Social and religious usages of the subjects were to be honored.

 Pitt’s India Act of 1784

• The company became a subordinate department of the State. The Company’s territories in India were termed British possessions’.
• A Board of Control consisting of the chancellor of the exchequer, a secretary of state and four members of the Privy Council (to be appointed by the Crown) were to exercise control over the Company’s civil, military, and revenue affairs. All dispatches were to be approved by the board. Thus a dual system of control was set up.
• In India, the governor-general was to have a council of three (including the commander-in-chief), and the presidencies of Bombay and Madras were made subordinate to the governor-general.
• A general prohibition was placed on aggressive wars and treaties (breached often).

 The Act of 1786

• Cornwallis wanted to have the powers of both the governor-general and the commander-in-chief. The new act conceded this demand and also gave him power.
• Cornwallis was allowed to override the council’s decision if he owned the responsibility for the decision. Later, this provision was extended to all the governors-general.

The Charter Act of 1793

• The Act renewed the Company’s commercial privileges for the next 20 years.
• The Company, after paying the necessary expenses, interest, dividends, salaries, etc., from the Indian revenues, was to pay 5 lakh pounds annually to the British government.
• The royal approval was mandated for the appointment of the governor-general, the governors, and the commander-in-chief.
• Senior officials of the Company were debarred from leaving India without permission—doing so was treated as a resignation.
• The Company was empowered to give licenses to individuals as well as the Company’s employees to trade in India. The licenses, known as 'privilege’ or 'country trade', paved the way for shipments of opium to China.
• The revenue administration was separated from the judiciary functions and this led to the disappearance of the Maal Adalats.
• The Home Government members were to be paid out of Indian revenues which continued up to 1919.

 The Charter Act of 1813

• The Company’s monopoly over trade in India ended, but the Company retained the trade with China and the trade in tea.
• The Company’s shareholders were given a 10.5 percent dividend on the revenue of India. The Company was to retain the possession of territories and the revenue for 20 years more, without prejudice to the sovereignty of the Crown.
• The powers of the Board of Control were further enlarged.
• A sum of one lakh rupees was to be set aside for the revival, promotion, and encouragement of literature, learning, and science among the natives of India, every year.
• The regulations made by the Councils of Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta were now required to be laid before the British Parliament. The constitutional position of the British territories in India was thus explicitly defined for the first time.
• Separate accounts were to be kept regarding commercial transactions and territorial revenues. The power of superintendence and direction of the Board of Control was not only defined but also enlarged considerably.
• Christian missionaries were also permitted to come to India and preach their religion.

 The Charter Act of 1833

• The lease of 20 years to the Company was further extended. Territories of India were to be governed in the name of the Crown.
• The company’s monopoly over trade with China and in tea also ended.
• All restrictions on European immigration and the acquisition of property in India were lifted.
• In India, a financial, legislative, and administrative centralization of the government was envisaged:
  (i) Governor-general was given the power to superintend, control, and direct all civil and military affairs of the Company.
  (ii) Bengal, Madras, Bombay, and all other territories were placed under complete control of the governor-general.
  (iii) All revenues were to be raised under the authority of the governor-general who would have complete control over the expenditure too.
  (iv) Governments of Madras and Bombay were drastically deprived of their legislative powers and left with a right of proposing to the governor-general the projects of law which they thought to be expedient.
• A law member was added to the governor-general’s council for professional advice on lawmaking. vi. Indian laws were to be codified and consolidated. vii. No Indian citizen was to be denied employment under the Company on the basis of religion, color, birth, descent, etc.
• The administration was urged to take steps to ameliorate the conditions of slaves and to ultimately abolish slavery. (Slavery was abolished in 1843).

 The Charter Act of 1853

• The company was to continue possession of territories unless the Parliament provided otherwise.
• The strength of the Court of Directors was reduced to 18.
• The company’s patronage over the services was dissolved—the services were now thrown open to a competitive examination.
• Law member became the full member of the governor-general’s executive council.
• separation of the executive and legislative functions of the Government of British India progressed with the inclusion of six additional members for legislative purposes.

 The Act for Better Government of India, 1858

• India was to be governed by and in the name of the Crown through a secretary of state and a council of 15. The initiative and the final decision was to be with the secretary of state and the council was to be just advisory in nature.
• Governor-general became the viceroy.

Developments after 1858 till Independence

 Indian Councils Act, 1861

• The 1861 Act marked an advance in that the principle of representatives of nonofficials in legislative bodies became accepted, laws were to be made after due deliberation, and as pieces of legislation, they could be changed only by the same deliberative process.
• The portfolio system introduced by Lord Canning laid the foundations of cabinet government in India, each branch of the administration having its official head and spokesman in the government, who was responsible for its administration.
• The Act by vesting legislative powers in the Governments of Bombay and Madras and by making provision for the institution of similar legislative councils in other provinces laid the foundations of legislative devolution.

 Indian Councils Act, 1892

• In 1885, the Indian National Congress was founded. Congress saw the reform of the councils as the "root of all other reforms" . It was in response to the Congress's demand that the legislative councils be expanded that the number of non-official members was increased both in the central (Imperial) and provincial legislative councils by the Indian Councils Act, 1892.
• Legislative Council of the Governor-General was enlarged.
• Universities, district boards, municipalities, zamindars, trade bodies, and chambers of commerce were empowered to recommend members to the provincial councils.
• Thus was introduced the principle of representation.
• Though the term election was firmly avoided in the Act, an element of the indirect election was accepted in the selection of some of the non-official members.
• Members of the legislatures were now entitled to express their views upon financial statements which were henceforth to be made on the floor of the legislatures.
• Could also put questions within certain limits to the executive on matters of public interest after giving six day's notice.

Indian Councils Act, 1909

• Popularly known as the Morley-Minto Reforms, the Act made the first attempt to bring in a representative and popular element in the governance of the country.
• The strength of the Imperial Legislative Council was increased.
• With regard to the central government, an Indian member was taken for the first time in the Executive Council of the Governor-General.
• Members of the Provincial Executive Council were increased.
• Powers of the legislative councils, both central and provincial, were increased.

 Government of India Act, 1919

• This Act was based on what is popularly known as the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms.
• Under the 1919 Act, the Indian Legislative Council at the Centre was replaced by a bicameral system consisting of a Council of State (Upper House) and a Legislative Assembly (Lower House). Each house was to have a majority of members who were directly elected. So, the direct election was introduced, though the franchise was much restricted being based on qualifications of property, tax, or education.
• The principle of communal representation was extended with separate electorates for Sikhs, Christians, and Anglo-Indians, besides Muslims.
• The act introduced dyarchy in the provinces, which indeed was a substantial step towards the transfer of power to the Indian people.
• The provincial legislature was to consist of one house only (legislative council).
• Act separated for the first time the provincial and central budgets, with provincial legislatures being authorized to make their budgets.
• A High Commissioner for India was appointed, who was to hold his office in London for six years and whose duty was to look after Indian trade in Europe.
• Secretary of State for India who used to get his pay from the Indian revenue was now to be paid by the British Exchequer, thus undoing an injustice in the Charter Act of 1793.
• Though Indian leaders for the first time got some administrative experience in a constitutional set-up under this Act.

 Simon Commission

• 1919 Act had provided that a Royal Commission would be appointed ten years after the Act to report on its working. 
• Three Round Table Conferences were called by the British government to consider the proposals. 
• Subsequently, a White Paper on Constitutional Reforms was published by the British government in March 1933.

Government of India Act, 1935

• Act, with 451 clauses and 15 schedules, contemplated the establishment of an All- India Federation in which Governors’ Provinces and the Chief Commissioners’ Provinces and those Indian states which might accede to be united were to be included.
• Dyarchy, rejected by the Simon Commission, was provided for in the Federal Executive.
• Federal Legislature was to have two chambers (bicameral): The Council of States and the Federal Legislative Assembly. The Council of States (the Upper House) was to be a permanent body.
• There was a provision for joint sitting in cases of deadlock between the houses. There were to be three subject lists: The Federal Legislative List, the Provincial Legislative List, and the Concurrent Legislative List. Residuary, legislative powers were subject to the discretion of the governor-general.
• Dyarchy in the provinces was abolished and provinces were given autonomy
• Provincial legislatures were further expanded. Bicameral legislatures were provided in the six provinces of Madras, Bombay, Bengal, United Provinces, Bihar, and Assam, with the other five provinces retaining unicameral legislatures.
• Principles of communal electorates’ and 'weightage' were further extended to depressed classes, women, and labor.
• The franchise was extended, with about 10 percent of the total population getting the right to vote.
• Act also provided for a Federal Court (which was established in 1937), with original and appellate powers, to interpret the 1935 Act and settle inter-state disputes, but the Privy Council in London was to dominate this court. India Council of the Secretary of State was abolished.
• All-India Federation as visualized in the Act never came into being because of the opposition from different parties of India. The British government decided to introduce the provincial autonomy on April 1, 1937, but the Central government continued to be governed in accordance with the 1919 Act, with minor amendments. The operative part of the Act of 1935 remained in force till August 15, 1947.

Evolution of Civil Services in India

Cornwallis’ Role

• Cornwallis, governor-general from 1786 to 1793, initiated the establishment and organization of civil services.
• Implemented measures to combat corruption, including:
  1. Raising civil servants' salaries.
  2. Strict enforcement of rules against engaging in private trade.
  3. Prohibiting civil servants from accepting presents or bribes.
  4. Enforcing promotions based on seniority.

Wellesley’s Role

Charter Act of 1853

• The 1853 Charter Act abolished the Company's patronage, introducing open competition for recruitment.
• Indians were excluded from high posts due to beliefs that only the English could serve British interests.
• Cornwallis's view that "Every native of Hindustan is corrupt" contributed to the early exclusion of Indians.
• The Charter Act of 1793 reserved posts worth 500 pounds per annum for covenanted servants of the Company.
• Reasons for excluding Indians included the perception of their incapability, untrustworthiness, and insensitivity to British interests.
• Despite the theoretical opening of services in the 1833 Charter Act, effective implementation for Indians was lacking.
• After the 1857 Indian Rebellion, the Proclamation of 1858 expressed British intent to include Indians in civil service roles freely and impartially.

Indian Civil Service Act, 1861 

Satyendra Nath Tagore

Statutory Civil Service

Congress Demand and Aitchison Committee

• Montford reforms emphasized a realistic policy: "If a responsible government is to be established in India, the more Indians we can employ in public service, the better."
• Proposed the implementation of simultaneous examinations in India and England.
• Recommended that one-third of recruitments be conducted in India, with an annual increase of 1.5 percent.

Lee Commission (1924)