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Charter Act of 1853 - Aishwarya Sandeep+
Charter Act of 1853 - Aishwarya Sandeep+
https://aishwaryasandeep.com/2021/11/15/charter-act-of-1853/
The Charter Act 1853 was passed in the British Parliament to renew the East
India Company’s charter. Unlike the previous charter acts of 1793, 1813 and
1833 which renewed the charter for 20 years; this act did not mention the
time period for which the company charter was being renewed. This Act
was passed when Lord Dalhousie was the Governor-General of India.
Charter Act of 1853 was the last charter act passed for East India Company.
It was passed on expiry of charter act of 1833. The charter was renewed
but no substantial changes were made. However, this was for the first time,
that this charter act, unlike other charter acts, did not fix any limit for the
continuance of the administration of the company in India. The act
provided that the Indian territories will remain under the Governance of
the company, until the parliament otherwise directed.
Governor-General’s office
The Law member (fourth member) became a full member with the right
to vote.
The Legislative Council which had six members now had 12 members.
Since 1833 and 1853, two new provinces of Sind and Punjab were added.
This Act also led to the creation of Assam, Burma and the Central
Provinces.
The Act provided for the appointment of a separate governor for the
Bengal Presidency. It maintained that the governor of Bengal should be
different from the Governor-General who was to head administration of
the whole of India.
The report recommended that only the ‘fittest’ be selected to the ICS.
1. For the first time, the legislative and executive functions of the
Governor-General’s council were separated.
4. It gave birth to the Indian civil services and was open to all including
Indians. This ended the system of appointments by recommendation
and started a system of open and fair competition.
5. For the first time, local representation was introduced into the
legislative council in the form of four members from the local
governments of Bengal, Bombay, Madras and North Western Provinces.
6. Charter Act of 1853 was the last charter act passed for East India
Company. It was passed on expiry of charter act of 1833. The charter
was renewed but no substantial changes were made. However, this was
for the first time, that this charter act, unlike other charter acts, did not
fix any limit for the continuance of the administration of the company in
India. The act provided that the Indian territories will remain under the
Governance of the company, until the parliament otherwise directed.
Contents :-
New provinces
This act also empowered the Court of Directors either to constitute a new
Presidency (In lines of Presidency of Madras or Bombay) or appoint a
Lieutenant Governor. No new presidency was constituted but in 1859, a
new Lieutenant governor was appointed for Punjab.
Charter Act of 1853 marks the expansion of the Council of the Governor
General for legislative purposes. The fourth member was placed at an equal
status with other members. The council of legislative purposes which had 6
members now was expanded to 12 members.
• Total =12
Genesis of Indian Civil Services
The previous charter act of 1833 had laid down that the Court of Directors
should nominate annually 4 times as many candidates as there were
vacancies, from whom one should be selected by competitive
examination. The charter act of 1833 also provided the Hailey bury college
of London should make quota to admit the future civil servants. However,
this system of an open competition was never effectively operated. A
committee under the chairmanship of Lord Macaulay had prepared the
regulations in this context. The report said that:
Charter Act of 1853 deprived the Court of Directors of its right of Patronage
to Indian appointments and now it was to be exercised under the
regulations. This was the Birth of Civil Services which was thrown in 1854
for open competition.
New provinces
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. 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.
The Act renewed the powers of the Company and allowed it to retain
processions over Indian territories in trust for Her Majesty, her heirs
and successors. The number of Court of Directors was reduced to 18, of
whom six were to be appointed by the Crown from among the Indian
servants. The Act also empowered Court of directors to create a new
Presidency and alter the boundaries of the Presidencies in India. The Act
created a separate Legislative Council for India for the first time. The
law member of the Governor Council was given the rank of a full-
fledged member in the The Charter Act of 1853 increased the number of
legislative council members. The new legislative Council was consisted
of 12 members. 1. Governor General (1) 2. Governor General Council (4)
3. Commander-in-Chief (1) 4. Four representatives from providences (4)
5. Chief Justice of Supreme Court Justice (1) 6. A regular judge from
Supreme Court to be named by Governor General. (1) Governor General
presided over the all meetings.
The Act empowered the Governor General to reject any laws passed by
the Council. But, had no power to pass to legislation which was
dissented by the majority of the Council. The procedure of the
Legislative Council was modeled more or less on the line of the British
Parliament. The Act authorized the Crown to appoint a Law Commission
in England to examine the work and recommendations of First Law
Commission. 4
The Charter Act 1853 indicated clearly that the rule of the Company was not
going to last a long time. The power and influence of the company were
curtailed. British Crown could nominate six Directors. Further, marks the
beginning of Parliamentary system in India because of the key feature that
Legislative Council was clearly distinguished from the Executive Council.
The Governor General was relieved of the administrative duties of Bengal.
He was to devote his whole time to work for the Government of India.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the
year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and
talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last
few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in
the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on
glamourising Over Work.
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