1853 of Charter Act (Charter Act of 1853)
The Charter Act of 1853 was the last charter act in the history of Indian rule (British). Changes were made in the administrative structure of the company by this act, but it did not increase the efficiency of government policy and administration. This act was mainly based on the demand of the Indians for the end of the Company's rule and the report of the then Governor General Lord Dalhousie.
At the time when the Charter Act of 1833 was being discussed in the British Parliament, only British merchants and Christian missionaries opposed it, but when in 1853 this right When the time came for the renewal of the letter, the Indians of Bengal, Madras and Bombay provinces sent applications with large numbers of signatures to the British Parliament in protest against this act, opposing the extension of the company's charter. was.
The announcement of Section 87 of the Charter Act of 1833 gave a great impetus to Indians, but when many Indians from abroad came to India after getting higher education, they found the distinction of black and white- Due to the policy, jobs could not be found in higher posts. It was natural for this to spread discontent among the Indians. The people of Bengal, Bombay and Madras sent applications to the British Parliament for changes in Indian administration.
In a letter sent by the residents of Calcutta, the right to make laws in India a separate legislature, giving internal independence to the territorial governments, governing India is a There was a demand to hand over to the Secretary of India and his council and to arrange a competitive examination for the British Civil Examination. The governments of various presidencies also suggested changes in the Indian administration in the Parliament. To investigate these, the British Parliament appointed a committee in 1852 and on the basis of its recommendations passed the Charter Act of 1853.
1853 K Charter Act K chief Provisions (Major provisions of the Charter Act of 1853)
By this act the management of Indian territories and their revenue was handed over to the company, but as before, no fixed period was fixed for it. In this regard, it was only said that the rule of the Company would continue in India until the British Parliament made any other arrangement, that is, the British Parliament got the right to take the rule of the Indian territories in its hands at any time. Could. Thus the Company was ordered to keep its possession over the Indian territories in the form of trust on behalf of the British Empress and her successors.
The Act reduced the number of its members from twenty-four to eighteen in order to reduce the power of the governing body. The right to appoint six of these members was given to the Emperor of England. Similarly, to meet the quorum at the meetings of the Board of Directors, the number of members was reduced from thirteen to ten, making the majority of the members appointed by the Emperor more effective and the control of the British Government in the affairs of the Company.>
The company will pay the salary of the members of the Board of Control, but the salary will be determined by the Empress. It was said in the Act that the salary of the Chairman of the Board shall in no case be less than the salary of the Secretary of State.
The directors were stripped of the authority to appoint high military functionaries of the company and the Board of Control was empowered to make rules regarding appointments. In future, arrangements were made to make appointments on the vacant places in the contract services on the basis of competitive examinations. In this way a competitive examination was arranged in London for recruitment to the civil service. Indians were also given the facility to participate in this examination. The Operators formed three sub-committees to look after judicial, financial and political matters. The secret committee of the three operators remained the same.
The Governor-General was relieved of the burden of governance of Bengal. Arrangements were made to appoint a separate governor for Bengal. It was also stipulated by this Act that until the Governor-General of Bengal was appointed, the Governor General could, with the permission of the Board of Directors, appoint a Lieutenant Governor for Bengal.
The company's board of directors was empowered to create another presidency like Madras and Bombay, resulting in the creation of the Punjab province in 1859. .
By the Act of 1853, a law-abiding member of the Governor-General's Council was made a regular member of the Governor-General's executive. Now he was given the right to vote and participate in the meetings related to governance.
This act separated the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General in Council for the first time. For the purpose of law-making, the Governor-General's council was expanded by adding six more members. These additional members were to include the Chief Justice of Bengal, a judge of the Supreme Court and four representatives of the governments of Bombay, Bengal, Madras and the North-West Frontier Province. In this way, the council became twelve members for making laws - the Governor General, the Commander-in-Chief, the four old members of the Governor-General's executive and six new members. A quorum of seven members was fixed for the meeting of the Council. All Bills passed by the Legislature could become Acts on receipt of the assent of the Governor General. Thus, in the law-making provisions of the Act of 1853, the appearance of a Legislative Council different from the Executive Council is clearly visible. The method of making laws similar to that of the British Parliament was adopted in the Governor-General's Council. It was given the right to ask questions to the executive and to debate its policies.
The Charter Act provided for the appointment of an 'English Law Commission' to examine and consider the recommendations of the lapsed Law Commission. It was only due to the efforts of this commission that it was possible to give the Indian Penal Code and civil and criminal procedures the form of law.
1853 K Charter Act of evaluation (Valuation of Charter Act of 1853)
Although the Charter Act of 1853 did not introduce any innovation in the policy and administration of the government, yet, this act was an important step from the constitutional point of view. In this act, keeping the charter of the company uncertain, it was made clear that its end is near. Only five years after this act, the British Parliament took over the administration of the Indian territories and the Company's state from India ended forever.
By this Charter Act, its authority and prestige were attacked by curtailing the powers of the Board of Directors. The operators were denied the right to appoint officers of India. Now it has also become possible for the government to appoint retired employees of the company familiar with Indian affairs as members of the Board of Directors.
This act brought about significant changes in the administrative structure of India. Earlier, the Governor General, in addition to overseeing other territories, also acted as the Governor of Bengal, by this act a separate governor was provided for Bengal, which reduced the burden of the Governor General and increased administrative efficiency.
By this act the salary of the President of the Board of Control was made equal to that of the Secretary of State of England, thereby increasing the prestige of the President. Through this act, a competitive examination was arranged for recruitment to the civil service. The venue of the competitive examination was fixed in London and the Chairman of the Board of Control was ordered to make rules and regulations in this regard. Now all the posts were opened for Indians and for this they were allowed to appear in competitive examinations, but due to many reasons Indians did not get any special benefit. One, the examinations were held in London, secondly, the age to appear for this examination was very less and thirdly, the questions in the examination were to be answered in English language only.
This Charter Act did an important job by appointing the 'English Law Commission'. Eight members of this commission worked tirelessly for three years to complete the unfinished tasks of the Law Commission and gave the form of law to the Indian Penal Code and civil and criminal procedures.
The importance of this act is that it separated the legislative and executive functions. The Governor-General's Council was expanded to make laws. In fact, this act gave the small legislative body the form of a small parliament. It adopted the same method of passing the bill, which is still in practice today. In this way, in 1853 such an institution was started, whose developed form exists today in the form of Indian Parliament.
Despite many important features, this Charter Act had many shortcomings, such as, only the British were kept in the council who did not know the Indian conditions. It remained a dream for Indians to occupy a high position in the Company government due to various discriminations, exorbitant expenses and long distance to England. The biggest drawback of this Charter Act was that it did not end the faulty diarchy system.
1854 of India Government Act (Government of India Act of 1854)
The British Parliament passed the Government of India Act in 1854. It brought about some important administrative changes. By this act, the Governor-General was empowered to take over the management and control of any area of the Company with the approval of the Board of Directors and the Legislature. He was also given the right to issue all necessary orders and directions in relation to the administration of that area. On the basis of these provisions, Chief Commissioners were appointed in Assam, Madhya Pradesh, North-West Frontier Province, Burma, Bilochistan and Delhi.
This act also empowered the Governor-General in Council to limit and determine the boundaries of the provinces. It was also said in this act that the Governor General will no longer hold the title of Governor of Bengal. The effect of this Act was that the Governor-General in Council was relieved of the task of exercising direct control over any province. Since then the Government of India has assumed the form of only supervisor and director-authority over the entire administration of the country.
Thus from 1773 to 1854, while the British government controlled the Company's affairs in England, the British government in India gradually ended the Company's trading monopoly. The tax took over the administration of the Indian territories in 1858.
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