Laxmikanth Ch 1: Historical Background (CAPF Digest)

The idea in one line

The Indian Constitution did not begin in 1950. Its administrative skeleton was built statute by statute across two phases of British rule, the Company era (1773 to 1858) and the Crown era (1858 to 1947), and many of its structural features were lifted from the Government of India Act 1935.

Phase 1: Company rule statutes

• Regulating Act 1773: the first British Parliament step to control the East India Company. Created the office of Governor-General of Bengal (Warren Hastings, first holder) with an executive council of four, made the Bombay and Madras presidencies subordinate to Bengal, and provided for a Supreme Court at Calcutta (set up 1774).
• Pitt's India Act 1784: established a Board of Control over the Company's civil, military and revenue affairs, creating "dual government" (Court of Directors for commerce, Board of Control for politics). First time the Company's territories were called "British possessions in India".
• Charter Act 1813: ended the Company's trade monopoly except for tea and trade with China; asserted Crown sovereignty over Company territory.
• Charter Act 1833: the final step in centralisation. Made the Governor-General of Bengal the Governor-General of India (Lord William Bentinck, first holder), stripped Bombay and Madras of legislative powers, and added a law member to the council (T. B. Macaulay was the first, who chaired the first Law Commission).
• Charter Act 1853: separated the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General's council and introduced an open competition for the civil services (the covenanted civil service was thrown open to Indians in principle).

Phase 2: Crown rule statutes

• Government of India Act 1858: passed after the Revolt of 1857. Abolished the Company, transferred governance to the Crown, created the office of Secretary of State for India (a British Cabinet member) assisted by a 15-member Council of India, and changed the title to Viceroy (Lord Canning, first Viceroy).
• Indian Councils Act 1861: a turning point in associating Indians with law-making (nomination of some non-official Indian members) and the beginning of the portfolio system; restored legislative powers to Bombay and Madras (decentralisation).
• Indian Councils Act 1892: enlarged the councils and introduced a limited, indirect election principle (the word "election" was not used).
• Indian Councils Act 1909 (Morley-Minto Reforms): introduced separate electorates for Muslims, the start of communal representation, with Lord Minto called the "Father of communal electorate".
• Government of India Act 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms): introduced dyarchy in the provinces (subjects split into "transferred" and "reserved"), bicameralism and direct election at the Centre, and separated central and provincial subjects. Created the office of the High Commissioner for India and set up a Public Service Commission (1926).
• Government of India Act 1935: the longest Act and the immediate source of much of our present structure. Provided for an All-India Federation (never came into being), provincial autonomy (replacing dyarchy in provinces with dyarchy at the Centre), a bicameral central legislature, a Federal Court (set up 1937), and three lists for the distribution of powers (Federal, Provincial, Concurrent). Abolished the Council of India.
• Indian Independence Act 1947: ended British rule on 15 August 1947, created the two Dominions of India and Pakistan free to frame their own constitutions, and ended the Crown's suzerainty over the princely states.

Features inherited

Federal scheme with three lists, office of Governor, public service commissions, emergency provisions and much administrative detail trace to the 1935 Act. Parliamentary government, single citizenship and the rule of law trace to British practice more broadly.

CAPF angle: examiners reliably ask "which Act first created office X" or "which Act introduced separate electorates". Lock the firsts: Governor-General of Bengal (1773), Governor-General of India (1833), Viceroy and Secretary of State (1858), separate electorates (1909), dyarchy in provinces (1919), provincial autonomy and the Federal Court (1935). The 1935 Act is the single most tested statute here.