INDIAN POLITY HISTORICAL BACKGROUND - COMPANY RULE

 

FEATURES OF EACH ACT IS GIVEN BELOW:

1. It designated the Governor-General of Bengal and created an Executive Council of four members to assist him. Lord Warren Hastings was the first Governor-General of Bengal.

2. Governors of Bombay and Madras presidencies subordinate to the Governor-general of Bengal.

3. It provided for the establishment of a Supreme Court at Calcutta (1774) with one Chief Justice and three other Judges.

4. It prohibited the servants of the Company from engaging in any private trade or accepting presents or bribes from the natives.

1. It exempted the Governor-General and the Council from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for the acts done by them in their official capacity. Similarly, it also exempted the servants of the company from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for their official actions.

2. It excluded the revenue matters and the matters arising in the collection of revenue from the Supreme Court's jurisdiction.

3. It provided that the Supreme Court was to have jurisdiction over all the inhabitants of Culcutta. It also required the court to administer the personal law of the defendants i.e., Hindus were to be tried according to the Hindu law and Muslims were to be tried according to the Mohammedan law.

4. It laid down that the appeals from the Provincial Courts could be taken to the Governor-General-in Council and not to the Supreme Court.

5. It empowered the Governor-General-in council to frame regulations for the Provincial Courts and Councils.

• The next important act was Pitt’s India Act of 1784.
• The act was significant for two reasons: 

1. The Company’s territories in India were for the first time called the ‘British possessions in India’; and
2. The British Government was given supreme control over Company’s affairs and its administration in India.

The features of this Act were as follows:

1. It distinguished between the commercial and political functions of the Company.

2. It allowed the Court of Directors to manage the commercial affairs but created a new body called the Board of Control to manage the political affairs. Thus, it established a system of double government.

3. It empowered the Board of Control to supervise and direct all operations of the civil and military government or revenues of the British possessions in India.

In 1786, Lord Cornwallis was appointed as the Governor-General of Bengal. He placed two demands to accept that post, viz., 

1. He should be given the power to override his council's decision in special cases. 
2. He would also be the Commander-in-Chief.

 Accordingly, the Act of 1786 was enacted to make both the provisions

1. It extended the overriding power given to Lord Cornwallis over his council, to all future Governor Generals and Governors of Presidencies.
2. It gave the Governor-General more powers and control over the governments of the subordinate Presidencies of Bombay and Madras.
3. It extended the company's trade monopoly in India for another period of twenty years.
4. It provided that the Commander-in-Chief was not to be a member of the Governor-General’s council unless he was so appointed.
5. It laid down that the members of the Board of Control and their staff were, henceforth, to be paid out of the Indian revenues.

1. It abolished the trade monopoly of the company in India i.e., the Indian trade was thrown open to all British merchants. However, it continued the monopoly of the company over trade in tea and trade with China.
2. It asserted the sovereignty of the British Crown over the Company’s territories in India.
3. It allowed the Christian missionaries to come to India for the purpose of enlightening the people.
4. It provided for the spread of western education among the inhabitants of the British territories in India.
5. It authorized the Local Governments in India to impose taxes on persons. They could also punish the persons for not paying taxes.

1. 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, the 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 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 the 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.

1. It separated, for the first time, the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General’s council. It provided for the addition of six new members called legislative councilors to the council. In other words, it established a separate Governor-General’s legislative council which came to be known as the Indian (Central) Legislative Council. This legislative wing of the council functioned as a mini-Parliament, adopting the same procedures as the British Parliament. Thus, legislation, for the first time, was treated as a special function of the government, requiring special machinery and special process.
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.