IAS Prelims preparation 2018
Day # 42 (May 4, 2017)
Topic of the day: Indian Councils Act of 1861, 1892 and 1909
The Indian Councils Act of 1861 is an important landmark in the
constitutional and political history of India.
Features of the Act of 1861
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.
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.
2. It initiated the process of decentralisation by restoring the legislative
powers to the Bombay and Madras Presidencies. It thus reversed the
centralising tendency that started from the Regulating Act of 1773 and
reached its climax under the Charter Act of 1833. This policy of
legislative devolution resulted in the grant of almost complete internal
autonomy to the provinces in 1937.
3. 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.
4. It empowered the Viceroy to make rules and orders for the more
convenient trans-action of business in the council. It also gave a
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 departments of the government and was authorised to issue final orders on behalf of the council on matters of his
department(s).
5. It empowered the Viceroy to issue ordinances, without the
concurrence of the legislative council, during an emergency. The life of
such an ordinance was six months.
Features of the Act of 1892
1. It increased the number of additional (non-official) members in the
Central and provincial legislative councils, but maintained the official
majority in them.
2. It increased the functions of legislative councils and gave them the
power of discussing the budget and addressing questions to the
executive.
3. It provided for the nomination of some non-official members of the
(a) Central Legislative Council by the viceroy on the recommendation of
the provincial legislative councils and the Bengal Chamber of
Commerce, and
(b) that of the Provincial legislative councils by the Governors on the
recommendation of the district boards, municipalities, universities, trade
associations, zamindars and chambers.
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 official majority in the Central Legislative Council but
allowed the provincial legislative councils to have non-official majority.
3. It enlarged the deliberative functions of the legislative councils at both
the levels. For example, members were allowed to ask supplementary
questions, move resolutions on the budget, and so on.
4. It provided (for the first time) for the association of Indians with the
executive Councils of the Viceroy and Governors.
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 by
accepting the concept of ‘separate electorate’. Under this, the Muslim
members were to be elected only by Muslim voters. Thus, the Act
‘legalised communalism’ and Lord Minto came to be known as the
Father of Communal Electorate.
6. It also provided for the separate representation of presidency
corporations, chambers of commerce, universities and zamindars.