In this article, we discuss the Government of India Act 1935 and its merits and demerits.
Background of Government of India Act 1935:
The British Government passed the Government of India Act 1919 in 1919. According to the provisions of this Act, a commission was set up in 1927 which was named Simon Commission.
The job of the Simon Commission was to review the provisions of the Act of 1919 and propose that constitutional reforms should be done in India.
The Simon Commission was not accepted by all the parties in India because all those members were British and not a single Indian.
So the British government said that you should also make a report which is accepted by all the people and classes of India. When we will discuss the Simon Commission report, then we will also discuss your report.
Indians also accepted this challenge and formed a committee whose chairman was Motilal Nehru and his report was called Nehru Report.
Jinnah had also made his 14 points and after some time Simon Commission also published its report.
Jinnah gave his 14 points because Jinnah felt that the points of Muslims were not being properly considered in the Nehru Report.
To discuss all these points, the British government organized the 3rd Round Table Conference between 1930 and 1932.
On the basis of all these points, in 1933 the British government published a white paper.
The British were sent some committees to India, they also gave their points. On the basis of all this, the Government of India Act 1935 was made.
The preamble was added for the first time in the Government of India Act 1919 but no Preamble was added in the Government of India Act 1935.
Control of Government in Government of India Act 1935:
The control of the Government of India was still in the hands of the Secretary of State of India. Lawrence Dundas was the secretary of state at that time.
In the Government of India Act 1858, a council of 15 members was formed for the help of the Viceroy, which was called the Indian Council.
In the Government of India Act 1935, the Indian Council was kept only as an advisor and their members were reduced from 15 to 6.
Burma was separated from India in the Government of India Act 1919. That is why now the Secretary of State of India was called Secretary of State of India and Burma.
Administration in Government of India Act 1935:
From the Indian Council Act 1861, the Viceroy had the power of ordinance. There were 6 members in the executive council of the Viceroy, out of which 3 members were Indians.
No changes were made in the administration in the Government of India Act 1935.
Central Legislature in Government of India Act 1935:
In the Government of India Act 1919, There were 145 members in the Legislative Assembly(Lower House) and 60 members in the Council of State(Upper House) in the Central Legislature.
In both these houses, some members used to come through elections and some members were nominated by the viceroy.
Some of the nominated members were official and some were non-official. Official members means those members who are working in civil or military services. Here all the members come from British Indian provinces and not from princely states.
In the Government of India act 1935, on legislative assembly, the number of members increased from 145 to 375.
The number of members in the Council of State was increased from 60 to 260. It was also said in this act that an All India Federation would be formed In which representation will be given to members of both British Indian Provinces and the Princely States.
In the Legislative Assembly, 125 members will represent the princely states and 250 members will represent the British Indian provinces.
In the Council of States, 104 members will represent the princely states and 156 members will represent the British Indian provinces.
The Legislative Assembly will now be called the Federal Assembly. It was also said here that the princely states themselves will decide whether to join the federation or not.
If they want to join the Federation, they will have to sign the Instrument of Accession with the British Government.
In this act, the communal representation was increased even more than in the Government of India Act 1919.
Here Muslims, Sikhs, Europeans, Liberals, Landlords, and Women were also given separate electorates.
In the Government of India Act 1919, all subjects were divided into general subjects and provincial subjects.
The subjects which were of All India Interests were put in the Central Subjects. For Example - Defense, Foreign Policy, Political Relations, Currency, etc...
50 provincial subjects were divided into 2 parts i.e. Transferred Subjects and Reserved Subjects. The governor and his council used to make laws on reserved subjects.
The Governor and the Indian Ministers together made laws on transferred subjects.
Subjects were divided into 3 parts in the Government of India Act 1935 i.e. central subjects, concurrent subjects, and provincial subjects.
Central subjects were now called federal subjects. Here 59 subjects were considered as part of the federal subject, 36 subjects were considered as part of the concurrent list and 54 subjects were considered as part of the provincial subject.
The divisions of provincial subjects i.e. transferred and reserved subjects were removed and put in federal subjects.
The Viceroy and his ministers together made laws on transferred subjects and the Viceroy and his executive council used to make laws on reserved subjects.
There were two law-making bodies, so it is said that in the Government of India Act 1935, the double government was introduced at the central level which was done on the recommendation of the Simon Commission.
The Law on Federal Subjects was made by the Central Legislature and the law on provincial subjects was made by the Provincial Legislature.
Both the Central and Provincial Legislators used to make laws on Concurrent Subjects.
If a subject was not a part of a federal, concurrent, and provincial subject, then it was called a residual subject, and law is made by the viceroy on it.
Provincial Legislature on Government of India Act 1935:
The dual government was introduced on a provincial level in the Government of India Act 1919.
The double government was removed in the Government of India Act 1935 and now the governor and the Indian ministers used to make laws on provincial subjects together.
It was also said here that the center will not interfere in any way at the provincial level.
Provincial Legislature was introduced at 11 places instead of 9 i.e. United Province, Bengal, Punjab, Madras, Assam, Bihar, Orrisa, Burma, Central Province, Bombay, and Sindh, and NWFP (North West Frontier Province).
In the Government of India Act 1935, the Provincial Legislature of 6 provinces was made a Bicameral and these provinces are United Province, Bengal, Madras, Assam, Bihar, and Bombay.
Federal Court was introduced in the Government of India Act 1935. If there is a dispute between the two states or if there is an issue between the state and the federal government, then these issues were settled by the Federal Court.
The Federal Court was established in Delhi in 1937. In 1950, this court was renamed as Supreme Court. Reserve Bank of India was established to control currency and credit.
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