Historical Background: Company Rule to the Government of India Act 1935

Why history matters for the Constitution

About two-thirds of the Constitution's administrative machinery – the federal scheme, the Public Service Commissions, the Governor's office, the emergency provisions and the three legislative lists – grew out of laws passed by the British Parliament between 1773 and 1935. UPSC regularly asks which Act introduced which feature, so this lesson walks through the Acts in order and links each to what survives today.

Phase 1: Company rule (1773–1858)

Regulating Act, 1773. The first step by the British Parliament to control the East India Company. It made the Governor of Bengal the Governor-General of Bengal (Warren Hastings was the first), created an Executive Council of four, subordinated the Bombay and Madras presidencies to Bengal, and provided for a Supreme Court at Calcutta (established 1774). It also forbade Company servants from private trade and taking bribes.

Pitt's India Act, 1784. Created a system of double government: the Court of Directors managed commerce, while a new Board of Control in Britain supervised political affairs. For the first time the Company's territories were called "British possessions in India".

Charter Act, 1813. Ended the Company's trade monopoly in India (except trade in tea and with China), allowed Christian missionaries to come to India, and set aside one lakh rupees a year for education – the first state commitment to education.

Charter Act, 1833. The high point of centralisation. The Governor-General of Bengal became the Governor-General of India (Lord William Bentinck was the first), with all civil and military powers. Laws made earlier were "regulations"; laws now became "acts". The Company ended as a commercial body and became purely administrative. It also attempted open competition for civil service posts, though this was dropped after opposition from the Court of Directors.

Charter Act, 1853. Separated the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General's Council, creating a small legislature (the Indian or Central Legislative Council). It introduced open competition for the civil services, which were thrown open to Indians; the Macaulay Committee (1854) was set up for this. It also introduced local representation in the legislature for the first time.

Phase 2: Crown rule (1858–1947)

Government of India Act, 1858. Passed after the Revolt of 1857, it transferred power from the Company to the British Crown. The Governor-General became the Viceroy (Lord Canning was the first). Double government ended; a Secretary of State for India, a member of the British cabinet, with a 15-member Council of India, took over control.

Indian Councils Act, 1861. Began associating Indians with law-making: the Viceroy could nominate some Indians as non-official members (in 1862 Canning nominated the Raja of Benares, the Maharaja of Patiala and Sir Dinkar Rao). It restored legislative powers to Bombay and Madras, starting decentralisation, recognised the portfolio system introduced by Canning, and empowered the Viceroy to issue ordinances in an emergency.

Indian Councils Act, 1892. Increased non-official members, allowed members to discuss the budget and ask questions, and introduced a limited and indirect method of nomination on the recommendation of bodies such as universities and municipalities.

Indian Councils Act, 1909 (Morley–Minto Reforms). Enlarged councils, allowed members to ask supplementary questions and move resolutions on the budget, and provided for the first Indian on the Viceroy's Executive Council (Satyendra Prasad Sinha, as Law Member). Most significantly, it introduced separate electorates for Muslims – Lord Minto is therefore called the "Father of Communal Electorate".

Government of India Act, 1919 (Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms). Followed the August 1917 declaration that the goal was "responsible government". It separated central and provincial subjects, introduced dyarchy in the provinces (transferred subjects run by ministers responsible to the legislature; reserved subjects run by the Governor and his executive council), made the central legislature bicameral, introduced direct elections on a limited franchise, extended separate electorates to Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans, and provided for a Public Service Commission (the Central Public Service Commission was set up in 1926). It also separated provincial budgets from the central budget.

Government of India Act, 1935. The longest and most detailed Act, with 321 sections and 10 schedules. Its key features:

• An All-India Federation of provinces and princely states (it never came into being because the princely states did not join).
• Three lists – Federal, Provincial and Concurrent – with residuary powers given to the Viceroy.
• Abolished dyarchy in the provinces and introduced provincial autonomy; it proposed dyarchy at the Centre, which never came into force.
• Bicameralism in six of the eleven provinces.
• Abolished the Council of India (the Secretary of State's council in London).
• A Federal Court (set up in 1937), a Federal Public Service Commission, Provincial and Joint Public Service Commissions, and the Reserve Bank of India (established 1935).
• The Federal Public Service Commission of 1935 is not the Central Public Service Commission, which was set up in 1926 under the 1919 Act.
• Extended the franchise to about 10% of the population.

Phase 3: Independence

Indian Independence Act, 1947. Based on the Mountbatten Plan, it ended British rule from 15 August 1947 and created two dominions, India and Pakistan. It empowered the Constituent Assemblies to frame constitutions and to repeal any British law, including the Act itself. The office of Secretary of State was abolished, and the Governor-General became a constitutional head acting on the advice of ministers. Lord Mountbatten became the first Governor-General of free India and C. Rajagopalachari the first and last Indian Governor-General.

What the Constitution inherited from the 1935 Act

The 1935 Act is the single largest source of the Constitution: the federal scheme, the office of Governor, the judiciary, Public Service Commissions, emergency provisions and many administrative details. India's Constitution kept this structure but replaced the colonial spirit with parliamentary democracy, Fundamental Rights and universal adult franchise.

Common traps

• Dyarchy was introduced in the provinces by the 1919 Act and abolished there by the 1935 Act, which proposed (but never implemented) dyarchy at the Centre.
• The first Governor-General of India was Bentinck (1833); the first Viceroy was Canning (1858). Warren Hastings was Governor-General of Bengal.
• Separate electorates began in 1909; the 1919 Act extended them to more communities.
• The Federal Court (1937) was the predecessor of the Supreme Court; it sat in Delhi.
• The Supreme Court at Calcutta was provided for in 1773 and set up in 1774.

Quick comparison: 1919 vs 1935

Practice answer frame: begin with the purpose of each Act (control after 1857, response to nationalist pressure in 1909 and 1919, response to the Simon Commission and Round Table Conferences in 1935), then show the features carried into the Constitution, and end with what the framers deliberately rejected – separate electorates, nominated members and the Governor-General's overriding powers.

Mains angle

A question may ask how colonial constitutional development shaped Indian democracy. Use a balanced answer: the Acts built institutions, a tradition of written law and a federal framework, and gave Indians experience of elections and provincial government (1937 ministries). But they were designed to control, not empower: limited franchise, separate electorates that deepened communal divisions, and reserved powers for Governors. The framers retained useful institutions while rejecting colonial assumptions.