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The Council of India was the name given at different times to two separate bodies associated with
British rule in India The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was hims ...
. The original Council of India was established by the
Charter Act of 1833 The Government of India Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will 4 c 85), or the Charter Act 1833, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, later retitled as the Saint Helena Act 1833. It extended the royal charter granted to the East India Company for an ...
as a council of four formal advisors to the Governor-General at Fort William. The ''Governor-General in Council'' was subordinate only to the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...
's Court of Directors and to the British Crown. In 1858 the Company's involvement in India's government was transferred by the
Government of India Act 1858 The Government of India Act 1858 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (21 & 22 Vict. c. 106) passed on 2 August 1858. Its provisions called for the liquidation of the British East India Company (who had up to this point been ruling ...
to the
British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...
. The Act created a new governmental department in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(the India Office), headed by the cabinet-ranking
Secretary of State for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India Secretary or the Indian Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of th ...
, who was in turn to be advised by a new Council of India (also based in London). But this new council of
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, which assisted the Secretary of state for India contained 15 members while the erstwhile council of India contained 4 members only and was referred to as Council of four. After the establishment of the Council of 15, the Council of four was formally renamed by the Act (s. 7) as the Council of the Governor General of India.Sometimes it was also called Executive council of India.


Governor-General's council (1833-1858)

The 1773 Act provided for the election of four counsellors by the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...
's Court of Directors. The Governor-General had a vote along with the counsellors, but he also had an additional casting vote. The decision of the Council was binding on the Governor-General. The '' Council of Four'', as it was known in its early days, did in fact attempt to impeach the first Governor-General,
Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-General ...
, but in his subsequent trial by Parliament he was found to be not guilty. In 1784, the Council was reduced to three members; the Governor-General continued to have both an ordinary vote and a casting vote. In 1786, the power of the Governor-General was increased even further, as Council decisions ceased to be binding. The Charter Act 1833 made further changes to the structure of the Council. The Act was the first law to distinguish between the executive and legislative responsibilities of the Governor-General. As provided under the Act, there were to be four members of the Council elected by the Court of Directors. The first three members were permitted to participate on all occasions, but the fourth member was only allowed to sit and vote when legislation was being debated. In 1858, the Court of Directors ceased to have the power to elect members of the Council. Instead, the one member who had a vote only on legislative questions came to be appointed by the Sovereign, and the other three members by the Secretary of State for India.


Secretary of State's Council

The Council of the Secretary of State, also known as the India Council was based in Whitehall. In 1907, two Indians Sir Krishna Govinda Gupta and Nawab Syed Hussain Bilgrami were appointed by Lord Morley as members of the council. Bilgrami retired early in 1910 owing to ill-health and his place was taken by Mirza Abbas Ali Baig. Wikisource:Page:The Indian Biographical Dictionary.djvu/41 Other members included Raja Sir Daljit Singh (1915-1917), C.Rajagopalachari (1923-1925), Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana (1924-1934) and
Sir Abdul Qadir Abdul Qadir (15 March 1872 – 9 February 1950) was a Pakistani jurist, newspaper and magazine editor and a Muslim community leader in British India. He was former judge of Lahore High Court. He led the famous Muslim organization, Anjuman-i-Him ...
The Secretary of State's Council of India was abolished by the Government of India Act 1935.


Members of the Council of India in London


See also

* India Office *
English Education Act 1835 The English Education Act 1835 was a legislative Act of the Council of India, gave effect to a decision in 1835 by Lord William Bentinck, then Governor-General of the British East India Company, to reallocate funds it was required by the Brit ...
* Central Legislative Assembly *
Viceroy's Executive Council The Viceroy's Executive Council was the cabinet of the government of British India headed by the Viceroy of India. It is also known as the Council of the Governor-General of India. It was transformed from an advisory council into a cabinet consistin ...
* Council of State (India) *
Imperial Legislative Council The Imperial Legislative Council (ILC) was the legislature of the British Raj from 1861 to 1947. It was established under the Charter Act of 1853 by providing for the addition of 6 additional members to the Governor General Council for legislativ ...
*
Interim Government of India The Interim Government of India, also known as the Provisional Government of India, formed on 2 September 1946 from the newly elected Constituent Assembly of India, had the task of assisting the transition of British India to independence. It ...


References

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Further reading

* ''A Constitutional History of India, 1600–1935'', by
Arthur Berriedale Keith Arthur Berriedale Keith (5 April 1879 – 6 October 1944) was a Scottish constitutional lawyer, scholar of Sanskrit and Indologist. He became Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology and Lecturer on the Constitution of the Brit ...
, published by Methuen & Co., London, 1936 * ''The Imperial Legislative Council of India from 1861 to 1920: A Study of the Inter-action of Constitutional Reform and National Movement with Special Reference to the Growth of Indian Legislature up to 1920'', by Parmatma Sharan, published by S. Chand, 1961 * ''Imperialist Strategy and Moderate Politics: Indian Legislature at Work, 1909-1920'', by Sneh Mahajan, published by Chanakya Publications, 1983 Government of British India