IAS Prelims Preparation 2018
Day # 40 (May 2, 2017)
Topics of the day: Indian Polity – Charter Act 1833 and 1853
Charter Act of 1833
This Act was the final step towards centralisation in British India.
Features of the Act
It made the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor-General of
India and vested in him all civil and military powers. Thus, the act
created, for the first time, a Government of India having authority over
the entire territorial area possessed by the British in India.
Lord William Bentick was the first governor-general of India.
2. It deprived the governor of Bombay and Madras of their legislative
powers. The Governor- General of India was given exclusive legislative
powers for the entire British India. The laws made under the previous
acts were called as Regulations while laws made under this act
were called as Acts.
3. It ended the activities of the East India Company as a commercial
body, which became a purely administrative body. It provided that the
company’s territories in India were held by it ‘in trust for His Majesty,
His heirs and successors’.
4. The Charter Act of 1833 attempted to introduce a system of open
competition for selection of civil servants, and stated that the Indians
should not be debarred from holding any place, office and employment
under the Company. However, this provision was negated after
opposition from the Court of Directors.
Charter Act of 1853
This was the last of the series of Charter Acts passed by the British
Parliament between 1793 and 1853. It was a significant constitutional
landmark.
Features of the Act
1. It separated, for the first time, the legislative and executive functions
of the Governor- General’s council. It provided for addition of six new
members called legislative councillors to the council.
2. It introduced an open competition system of selection and recruitment
of civil servants. The covenanted civil service was thus thrown open to
the Indians also. Accordingly, the Macaulay Committee (the Committee
on the Indian Civil Service) was appointed in 1854.
3. It extended the Company’s rule and allowed it to retain the possession
of Indian territories on trust for the British Crown. But, it did not specify
any particular period, unlike the previous Charters. This was a clear
indication that the Company’s rule could be terminated at any time
the Parliament liked.
4. It introduced, for the first time, local representation in the Indian
(Central) Legislative Council. Of the six new legislative members of the
governor-general’s council, four members were appointed by the local
(provincial) governments of Madras, Bombay, Bengal and Agra.