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 Charter Act of 1853
(a) It separated, for the first time, the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General’s council.
(b) 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.
(c) The legislative wing of the Indian (Central) Legislative 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.
(d) 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.
(e) 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.
(f) 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.
(g) The strength of the Court of Directors was reduced to 18.
(h) The law member became the full member of the governor general’s executive council.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
QUES . Which one of the following statements is not correct?
(a) The Charter Act of 1853 was enacted in the wake of a timely renewal of 20 years for each Charter Act.
(b) The number of members of the Court of Directors was reduced from 24 to 15 of which 6 were to be
nominated by the Crown.
(c) The Act renewed the powers of the Company and allowed it to retain the possession of Indian territories in trust for the British Crown but not for any specified period.
(d) The centralised power was given a thought in this Act, with contemplation of divided power for separate ruling.
(b) As the time approached for the renewal of the Company’s Charter, there was a growing demand that the Double Government of the Company in England should be ended. The demand was made for good, reasons, viz., that the Court of Directors had outlived its usefulness and that the existence of the Court of Directors and the Board of Control only resulted in unnecessary delay in the dispatch of business and undue expenditure. The Charter Act of 1853 provided that British India would remain under the administration of the Company in trust for the Crown until Parliament should decide otherwise.
