CHARTER ACT 1853
About Charter Act of 1853
- It served as foundation of modern parliamentary form of government in India
- The legislative wing of Governor-General’s Council acted as a parliament on the model of British Parliament.
Why Important
- First time – Legislation -> treated as special function
- First time – separated -> Legislative & Executive functions of Governor General’s council
Imp Points
- Governor-General’s Legislative Council
- Act established -> Governor General’s Legislative council by adding 6 new members, hence total members became 12
- It was later called as
- Indian Legislative Council or,
- Central Legislative Council
- It functioned as Mini Parliament
- Its administration was similar to British parliament
- The 12 members were:
- 1 Governor-General
- 1 Commander-in-Chief
- 4 members – Governor-General’s Council(Executive Council)
- 1 Chief Justice of Supreme Court at Calcutta
- 1 Regular judge – Supreme Court at Calcutta
- 4 representative members from EIC (min 10 years tenure), appointed by local governments of Bengal, Bombay, Madras and NWP
- The Law member (4th member) became -> full member with right to vote
- Governor-General could nominate -> Vice President to council
- Governor-General’s assent was required -> for all legislative proposals
- Therefore first time, legislative and executive functions of Governor-General’s council were separated
- Local Representation in Central Legislative Council
- Introduced first time
- 4 of 6 members –> were to be appointed by –> Local (provincial) Governments of Madras, Bombay, Bengal, Agra
- East India Company(EIC)
- EIC rule was extended -> but for no specific period
- EIC was allowed to retain –> Possession of Indian territories on Trust of Crown
- Court of Directors(COD)
- got power to create new presidency or province, for ease of administering large Indian territories
- (1833 – 1853) -> 2 new provinces added -> Sind, Punjab
- Director’s could also appoint -> Lt-Governor for these provinces
- 1859 – Lt. Governor was appointed for Punjab
- The act thus led to creation of Assam, Burma & Central Provinces
- got power to create new presidency or province, for ease of administering large Indian territories
- Separate Governor – Bengal Presidency
- Act mandated that Governor of Bengal should be different from Governor-General of India who was to head administration of whole India
- Reduced no of Board of Directors – from 24 to 18 , out of which 6 were nominated by British Crown
- Indian Civil Services
- 1854 – Macaulay Committee -> gave India her first civil services
- Act ended right of patronage to appointments in civil service held by COD(Court of Directors)
- Act introduced system of open competition
- This was the Birth of Civil Services which was thrown in 1854 for open competition
- Macaulay Committee Recommendations
- Haileybury should cease to be maintained as higher education college for the ICS (Indian Civil Services)
- There should be a broad general education rather than specialized education for ICS recruits
- The recruitment should be based upon an open competitive examination to bring out best candidates and not through mere superficial knowledge
- The appointments should be subject to a period of probation
Significance of Charter Act 1853
- The act gave indications about end of EIC rule
- EIC’s power and influence were curtailed
- Crown could now nominate 6 Directors
- Marked the beginning of Parliamentary system in India
- Legislative Council was clearly distinguished from Executive Council
- Governor General was relieved of administrative duties of Bengal
- He was to devote his whole time to work for the Government of India
READ FULL MODERN HISTORY NOTES HERE
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