1909 Indian Councils Act

or
Minto-Morely Reforms
Governor General from 1894-1910
• Lord Elgin 1894-1899
• Lord Curzon 1899-1905
• Lord Minto 1905-1910
• Demands of the Indian National Congress
• Separation of Bengal 1905
• Extremists activities
• Muslim League 1906
• To satisfy moderates
• To isolate Muslims from the rest of India
• The government aimed to gather the
Moderates and the Muslim’s support
against the rising tide of nationalism.

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• Indian Council
• Executive Council
• Central legislature
• Provincial Legislature

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Changes in the Indian Council
and Executive Council

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The Act provided for the first time the
appointment of Indians to the Indian Council
and Governor General Council.
Indian Council
• Mr. K.C Gupta, a Hindu civilian
• Syed Hussain Bilgrami, the Principal Adviser of
Nizam of Hyderabad.
Governor General Council
• Lord S.P.Sinha,
• The Advocate General of Bombay was
appointed as a Law-Member of the 8
Government.
Central Legislative Council

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• In the view of the Government of India,
territorial representation was not suitable
for the people of India.
• As an alternative to territorial
representation, the British Government
decided to introduce separate electorates
for different communities and classes in
the presidencies.

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• The Legislative council’s size was enlarged by
adding more representation to the various
classes of persons and bodies.

• In the case of the Governor General’s

Council, the total membership was raised
from 16 to 60.
• The Central Legislative Council was to consist
of 37 officials and 32 non-officials.
• Out of 37 officials, 28 were to be nominated
by the Governor General and the rest were to
be ex-officio.
• The ex-officio members were to be the
Governor General, seven Council members,
and the Governor of the province where the
meeting took place.
• Out of 32 non-official members, five were
to be nominated by the Governor General
and the rest were to be elected.
 Central Legislative Council
60+9=69
Officials Non official
37 32
Ex-officio Nominated Elected Nominated
9 28 27 5
GG +7 Council +Governor

General Electorates 13
Class Electorates 6
Special Electorates 2
Muslims Electorates 6
• General Electorates: 13 members from all
(ten) provinces
• Class Electorates: 6 Landlords
constituencies of provinces
• Special Electorates: 2 Presidency
Corporations and Chamber of Commerce
• Muslim Electorates: 6 Muslim members
• (two from Bengal, and each one from
Bombay, Madras, Bihar-Orrisa, and United
provinces)
• Nominated officials: I.C.S officers 14
Voters and Qualification
• Only the land with specified income or minimum
land revenue payment of Rs. 10,000 or OR
• Rajas, Nawabs of Bengal, and Honorary
magistrate.
• The number of voters in a constituency did not
exceed nine or ten.

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Enlargement of functions of the councils and
Privileges of the Members
• Resolutions on matters affecting the
general public could be discussed in the
Council with 15 days' notice.
• Members had no right to discuss political
and military affairs state.
• The Act gave powers to the members to
move resolutions relating to loans regarding
local bodies.
• additional grants and new tax proposals
about their organization or bodies
permitted to ask questions.
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• The President could disallow any resolution
or a part of a resolution without any reason.
• on certain matters like External policy, and
relations with Indian rulers the members
had no right to discuss.
• The members were also empowered to
discuss and move resolutions relating to
matters of public interest.
Provincial Legislature

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• The maximum number of members of the
Provincial Council of Bengal, Bombay, and
Madras was raised from 20 to 50 members.
• The majority of the members were to be
non-officials in the Presidencies i.e. (35+15).
• Some of the non-officials were to be
nominated by the Governor.
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• The people elected the members for their
local bodies like
• municipal corporations,
• Landlords,
• district Boards,
• and Muslims.
• These local bodies in turn elected the
members for Provincial Legislative Councils
and further chose the members for the
Supreme Legislative Council.
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 Supreme Legislative Council
Provincial Legislative Councils
Landlords, Municipal corporations, Muslims,
and Chambers of Commerce.

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