Company Rule

1765: Company acquired the diwani of

Bengal
1765-1833: Company had dual role of trader
and ruler
1833: its commercial role was abolished

Civil Services under the company divided into

Covenanted Civil Service: consisted only of
Englishmen
Uncovenanted Civil Service: included Indians,
Parsis, English and the Portuguese

 Regulating Act 1773

Laid down the skeleton of the present governmental system in
the country
Gov Gen and council appointed in Bengal
Provided that a Supreme Court of justice be established

Pitts India Act, 1784

Board of Control established in England
The Court of Directors was retained but was subjected to the
authority of the Board of Control
BoC became the real ruling authority over India
Gov Gen was given more effective power over the council
Positives
After years of irresponsible administration, Act was a measure to
rationalise the system

 Hastings
Civil service became structured
Company became a govt and took up functions
of revenue and maintenance of law and order.
Establishment of the secretariat system
The post of collector was introduced
He laid the foundation on which Cornwallis
built a super-structure
Civil and Criminal courts established
Supreme court

Cornwallis
Area administration
Consolidated Indian districts into definite administrative units
Each district placed under a magistrate and a collector

Law and order

Each district was divided into a number of police circles, or thanas

Judicial Administration
Comprehensive system of justice

Introduced highly liberal system of remuneration

Efforts to remove patronage and see that all important
offices are held by covenanted CS
Cornwallis Code: concerned with correctives against the
abuse of power by the officials
Separated customs from the revenue department
Permanent Settlement
Boards were set up for administration: board of trade, board
of revenue, military board and medical board

Cornwallis
Positives
Introduced into the organisation of civil service a definitive, legal and
rational principle, expressed in the separation of revenue and judicial
functions
Cornwallis Code
Defined the powers of civil servants in each capacity, with fixed salaries
assigned according to the degree of responsibility

Drawback
Europeanisation of Civil Service: his systematic effort to exclude
Indians from taking part in the administration
Could not give India a modern code of law

Conclusion
Cornwallis created certain basic conditions for the growth of
bureaucratization
Apart from consolidating the foundations of state authority, he
brought corporate, legal and professional concepts into bear upon the
organisation of his administrative staff

 Wellesley
Contribution in the field of training: Fort William College in Calcutta
in 1800. (abolished in 1802).
Hartford Castle (1806): the qualification of candidates was tested by
a written and an oral examination

Bentinck: evolved the modern concept of district magistrate

Charter Act of 1833
Centralisation was the guiding principle
Gov Gens council enlarged
Presidency of Bengal divided into two parts: Bengal and Agra
(nullified in 1835)
Gov Gen of Bengal became Gov Gen of India
The activities of the Company as a commercial body came to an end
Mentioned that Indians should not be debarred from holding office
under the company

 Dalhousie
Post and telegraph
Public Works department
Division of governmental functions into well-defined
departments was yet another of his reforms

Charter Act of 1853

Introduced a system of open competition for recruitment
Released the gov gen from direct involvement in the details
of provincial administration

Macaulay Committee Report, 1854

Laid the foundations for administrative reforms in India
Competitive recruitment and training
Proposed a detailed scheme of the examination

 Consequences of the Company rule

Decadence of the indigenous institution of selfgovernment
Provinces grouped arbitrarily
Enormous growth in public taxation and expenditure
Insufficient attention to education, public health,
irrigation
Neglect of indigenous industry and agriculture ->
famines
Excessive curbs on the political activities of the
people

 Act of 1858
1859: Portfolio system by Canning
Work of the govt, divided into several branches, was entrusted
to different members of the Gov Gens council

Act of 1861
Initiated the process of decentralisation
Member in-charge of his dept could issue final orders with
regard to matters which concerned his department
Restored some of the powers of the legislative councils of
Madras and Bombay
Provided for setting up of new councils in other provinces as well
Provision for inclusion of some Indians in the council of the gov
gen

 Aitchison Commission (1886-87)

Supported the formation of a lower,
local civil service to be called the
provincial civil service
Covenanted CS was abolished and three
services were carved out
Imperial Civil Service
Provincial CS
Subordinate CS

 Councils Act 1892

Enlarged the functions of the legislative councils
Elected representatives in LC

Councils Act 1909

Provided for a distribution of powers between the centre and
the provinces
The division however, did not make India federal. Centre was
still very powerful
Further increased the size of legislative councils
Communal Award

Decentralisation Commission (1909) made

recommendations for the revival and growth of
panchayats

 Govt of India Act 1919

Dealt with the structure of provincial
governments
Dyarchy: provincial subjects were
divided into reserved and transferred
LSG became a provincial and transferred
subject under a responsible Indian
minister

 Why dyarchy failed?

Dividing the govt into branches proved to be
unscientific and unnatural
Destroyed the unity of purpose of govt activities
Governor had the last word. No system of collective
responsibility.
Finance was a reserved subject

1923: Royal Commission on superior civil

services in India
Chair: Lord Lee of Farham
Recommended the establishment of a Public Service
Commission

 Act of 1935
Abolished dyarchy in the provinces but introduced it in the
centre
Provincial autonomy
Three lists: Union, state and concurrent
Relaxed some autocratic control of the Crown in certain
spheres and replaced it with a popular government
Created an All-India Federation

Drawbacks
It was not mandatory for the princely states to join the
federation
Federal features of the constitution were thus not
implemented

 Features of the British rule can be discussed under

the following heads
Creation of the ICS
Secretariat system
Pay, promotions and transfers
Provincial civil service
Financial administration
Financial accountability
Law and order
Administration of justice
Local self government
Bureaucratic leadership

BUREAUCRACY

Bureaucratic Development
Three phases under Company rule
Phase 1: Upto 1765 when it emerged as a territorial power
Phase 2: 1765-1798 period of parliamentary intervention
without definite political policy
Phase 3 1798 onwards developments by Wellesley

Phase 1
Royal charter of 1661 authorised the company to appoint
governor to the provinces
Writers were appointed
Organisation of CS contained modern ingredients such as a
centralised agency of recruitment, graded heirarchy,
contractual service and a body of rules governing the
transaction of its corporate business
Patronage was rampant

 Phase 2
To check nepotism and abuse of nomination, the Charter Act of
1793 laid down that all vacancies occuring in Civil offices below
the Council should be filled by the members of the Convenant CS
belonging to that province
Made CS a compact body of officers who were paid according to
the number of years of service

Phase 3
Wellesley
Fort William College for training of CS established
Charter of 1813
During this phase there were two competing principles of
administration
First recognised the rule of law as the ruling force
Second advocated a form of rule by discretion of executive inter-position

Selection on merit and promotion on seniority

 1858-1919
Efforts at rationalisation of the bureaucracy
Was a period of bureaucratic despotism where every level of hierarchy
tried to tighten the chains around the subordinates
Act of 1858 provided for recruitment to CCS through open competitive
exam held at London
Indian Civil Service Act, 1861: reserved certain high posts in
administration for the members of ICS
1876: age limit for recruitment reduced to 19
1892: min age raised to 21 and max to 23

1919-1947
Towards decentralisation
1907: decentralisation commission
Collector to be recognised as the head of the district in all administrative matters
Rural and municipal councils

1935: provincial autonomy

INDIAN CIVIL SERVICES

 Even before 1765, the company had set up an

elaborate system of administration
Apparantice and Writers constituted the lowest level

Two types
Covenanted
Un-covenanted

Beginning of Civil Services

Hastings took steps to separate the commercial and
administrative activities of the company
Gave large powers to the covenanted civil servants
Mixed system of administration
Both Europeans and Indians in the CS
Though Europeans were at higher posts.

 Europeanisation of Civil Services

Cornwallis abandoned the system of
mixed administration
Since he introduced rule of law and
security of property (European concepts)
he needed Europeans to man the
administration

Organisation and
Recruitment
Divided into two main classes
Covenanted
Uncovenanted
(After 1892 these were called ICS and Provincial CS
respectively)

ICS consisted of only that body of civil servants

recruited according to provisions of the GoI Act, 1858
and for whom certain posts were reserved
Later other methods besides open competition were
also used
Between 1858 and 1919 recruitment to the ICS was
made chiefly by open competition held in London

 Act of 1833 made two major changes regarding

recruitment
Cornwallis policy of excluding Indians was repudiated
The policy of combining nomination with examination was
adopted (early it was mostly nomination)

Act of 1853
Removed the provision of nomination to the covenanted CS
All recruitment hence was to be through an open
competition

First competitive exam held in 1855

First Indian civil servant: Satyendra Nath Tagore
(1864)

Statutory Civil Service

Instituted in 1879 by Lord Lytton
Was a device to appease educated
Indian who were agitating for
employment in the covenanted civil
service
Appointments were generally confined
to young men of good family and social
position possessing fair abilities and
education

Indian Civil Service

1892, the two services rechristened as
Indian Civil Service
Provincial Civil Service

Macaulay Report: Led to the establishment of a merit based bureaucracy

1858-1919
Recruitment to ICS made on the basis of an open competitive examination which
was held in London
Emphasised that this be a service of men endowed with the best intellectual
traditions, ideas and sentiments
Macaulays ideas of recruitment lent support to the power elite theory of
bureaucracy being the ruling class

Idea of specific age limit for taking the exam evolved with Macaulays
report
By 1920, there were a total of five methods of entry into the higher civil
service
Competitive exam conducted by and independent agency
Another substantial contribution was institutionalizing a training system

Indianisation of ICS
1870: Parliament passed an Act making provision for
appointment of Indians to certain posts reserved for ICS
This arrangement proved to be unsatisfactory and was
abolished on the recommendation of the Aitchison
Committee (1889)
1877-79: Indian Association organised agitation on the
civil services question
This resulted in the creation of Statutory CS
Congress also took up the issue
Curzons govt reiterated the policy of English occupying
the highest posts
By 1913 only 5 pc of the ICS were Indians

 1886: Public Service Commission

Chair: Lord Aitchison
Upheld the recruitment policy of 1858
Provincial and Indian CS
Continuance of the London test was strongly defended

Through the commissions recommendations, a three tier structure

was adopted
ICS, PCS and Subordinate CS
This structure continues to till date
In a sense, the commission imparted finality to the public service structure

1912: Royal Commission on Public Services in India

Chair: Lord Islington
Rejected the demand for simultaneous exam
Recommended that recruitment to be made through two channels
One in London open to all
One in India open to statutory natives only

Creation of a provincial civil

service
On the recommendation of the
Aitchison Commission the following
changes were made
Covenanted CS renamed as Indian Civil
Service
Uncovenanted CS renamed as Provincial
CS

An element of reservation existed in

PCS to provide representation to
different classes

Secretariat
Portfolio System (1858)
Staffing
Central pool for drawing manpower
Recruitment to the upper division of the secretariat made
through direct appointments
1937: Maxwell committee recommended that the
ministerial staff should be divided into two main grades
assistants and clerks

Features of the secretariat system

Reliance on precedents
Incapacity of the lower grades of officials to share
responsibility
Practice of excessive record keeping and noting

Secretariat Reforms
Secretariat Procedure Committee, 1919
Recommended a pyramidal organisation

Lewellyn Smith Committee (1920)

Recommended that tenure of the secys and dy secys be
fixed to bring stability

Secretariat Committee (Wheeler), 1935

Studied the problem of delays in working
Rec. practice of double notings to speed work

Tottenham Committee (1945-46)

Reported on the organisation of departments, the
question of staffing and reorganisation of the entire
secretariat system

Pay, promotions and

transfers
Posts divided into superior and inferior
categories. Pay depended on this.
The system of promotion brought
about an onslaught on the traditionalbound Indian society
Promotion provided an element of social
mobility, especially for the lower castes

The frequency of transfers sapped the

vitality of the British administration

Area Administration
After the revolt, a four tier structure
was adopted
District Administration
Provincial Government
Government of India
Home Government

The administrative links between

these four tiers were provided by
statures, rules and conventions

Revenue Administration
Permanent Settlement of Cornwallis

Financial Administration
Initially the Accountant General of Fort William of Bengal controlled the
finances
From 1846, the Secy to the Govt of India in the Finance Dept was nominated
the ex-officio Accountant General of India
Creation of the general department of accounts in place of separate
accounts for each presidency
During Company rule, revenue came from
Land and taxes on trade and personal property

Expenditure
Security or defence
Social and development services

1860: The most important administrative innovation was the introduction of

the budget sytem
Financial resources to be ascertained before the start of the year

1860
Central Revenue Department created
Imperial Audit Department was set up

 Creation of reform committees in the

field of revenue administratiion
Resolution of 1860 provided for the
creation of a Budget and Audit
Committee

Introduction of govt paper currency

in 1860

Financial Accountability
1772: Supervisors as collectors in district
1781: Board of Revenue became the controlling
authority for revenue purposes
1829: Divisional commissioners appointed to
supervise the collectors
1919: C&AG was made responsible to the central
admin
1922: Central Public Accounts Committee created
1926: given power to inspect any government
office of account
1934: RBI established

Law and Order

Administration
Foundations of the contemporary police administration laid during
British rule
Indian Police Act, 1861
IGP head of state police. SP at district level.
Subordinate police force consisted of the inspectors, head
constables, sargeants and constables
Prior to the Police Act, the magistrate was the head of the district
police
After 1861, magistrate ceased to be a direct police functionary but
still had some control over police matters, in addition also retained
judicial authority.
Thus, DM now had powers over the district police as well over
subordinate magistracy. Over centralisation of authority in one
official paved the way for administrative despotism at the district
level.

 Report of the Police Commission (1902-03)

A European service to be recruited entirely in England
A provincial service to be recruited entirely in India
Upper subordinate service consisting of inspectors and
sub-inspectors
Lower subordinate service comprising head constables
and constables

A province to be divided into ranges

IPC, 1960, CrPC, 1861, Indian Evidence Act etc
constituted the legal framework of criminal justice
administration that helped the police system to
exercise its functions effectively

Judicial Administration
Hastings organised two courts in each district
Exercising civil and criminal jurisdiction

Cornwallis introduced the separation of power between executive and

judiciary
Cornwallis code of 1793 took away the judicial powers of the Collector.
Laid the foundation of independent judiciary

Code provided for a three tier system

European judges with the zilla and city courts at the bottom
Four Provincial court of appeal at the middle level
Sadar Diwani and Nizamat Adalat at the top. Besides, Privy Council at the top

Criminal justice was in the hands of the four provincial courts

Called Circuit Courts
At the top was the Sadar Nizamat adalat to hear appeals from the Circuit
Courts

Holt Mackenzie
Removed the intermediate tier as it slowed down the process
Recommended that primary jurisdiction in all cases, except a few, be vested in
Indians

Judicial Administration
Judicial admin created perpetual problems
People did not know the laws of the rulers
Rulers did not know the traditions of the people

Bentinck introduced major reforms to improve

the situation
The district judges of Cornwallis creation had to
surrender their magesterial powers to the district
collectors
Thus there emerged the district officer who was the
DM, collector and the head of the police force
DM of Bentick continued till the end of the British
Administration

Local Self Government

1864: statutory recognition was granted to panchayats as petty
courts in Bombay and Madras
1870: Mayo included the panchayats in the management of funds
devoted to education, public works etc
Ripon
1882: recommended the extension of the elected element in rural bodies,
reduction in the size of the official element, an elected non-official as the
chairman of rural bodies and financial decentralisation

Decentralisation Commission of 1909 recommended

Three tier system
Village Panchayat
Local tehsil
District board

1919
LSG became a provincial and transferred subject under a responsible Indian
minister

Conclusion
Indian Administration built on its British
heritage
Eg. All India services, recruitment, training,
secretariat system, district admin, revenue
admin, police system, fin admin

Uniform system of administration

The princely states had different systems of
administration

Their Acts and statutes are still in use

Innovation and stuff