Main Provisions of the Charter Act 1833 - for Revision

 Please Watch the Video 

Main Provisions of the Act

 

The historians recognise the Charter Act of 1833 for two main features. First, the Charter Act 1833 changed the position and status of the East India Company. Second, it laid down a broad principle of British policy towards Indian employment. The provisions that brought about the mentioned changes and other necessary rules are studied as follows:

 

Changes in the Home Government (The Administration in London)

1. The Charter Act of 1833 granted the Company the territorial possession it had acquired in India and the administrative and political powers to run the government of India for the next 20 years.

 

2. The Charter Act renewed the monopoly of the Company over the China Trade and Tea Trade. In addition to that, the Act instructed the Company to close all other commercial business at the earliest and wholly concentrate on the administration in India. In short, all other trade monopolies of the Company were abolished. 

 

3. The Act instructed the company to declare a dividend of 10.5 percent to shareholders out of the revenue of India. The Company was also told to raise the fund of 12 million pounds (1.2 crores) to purchase the Company's stock (a buyback like that of present-day practice). A provision was incorporated in the Act which instructed the company to raise the fund to repay the capital of the East India Company in forty years or earlier (that means by 1873 or before it), should the company be deprived of its rule over India. 

 

4. The Act of 1813 had laid the rule that under a licensing system, all Europeans were permitted to enter India. This rule was removed and replaced by an instruction to adopt the method of scrutiny for the free admission of Europeans in India to avoid any disorder. 

 

Changes in the Central Government in India (Governor-General's office) under the Company rule.

 

1. The Governor-General of India in Council was made an all-powerful legislative institution in India. (Earlier, Governor-General was Governor-General in Council of Bengal. From 1833 onwards, the Governor-General of India was the designation. In other words, the first Governor-General of India was William Bentinck.). It made the Governor-General of India all powerful in India.

 

2. The superintendence, direction and control of the whole civil and military government (-Remember the three terms were used to define the role of Board of Control. In the Act, it was also used for the post of Governor-General in India.-) over the territories under the Company's rule was vested in the Governor-General in Council.

 

3. The Charter Act 1833, established a post of Law member. The Law member was deputed to assist the Governor-General and his Councillors in legislation matters. The task of the person as a law member was to remove legal prohibitions that were marked as illegal. The Law member was authorised to participate only in such meetings when the process of lawmaking took place in the Council. However, the Law member was not allowed any say in the ordinary executive matters. He was to be an English Jurisconsult (Jurisconsult was a person authorised to give legal advice. Such professionals were quite popular during the nineteenth century. However, he is not to be equated with Advocate General as some of the textbooks had suggested.) Mr T. B. Macaulay was appointed as the Law Member to the Council. 

 

4. A provision of the Act of 1833 authorised the Governor-General in Council to appoint a commission to be known as the 'Indian Law Commission'. Such commissions were empowered to inquire into the jurisdiction, powers, and rules of the existing courts of justice and police establishments, the nature of all laws, and make reports on them. 

 

Changes in the Presidency Governments

 

1. The Governments of Bombay and Madras were denied the power of legislation. The power to legislate was allowed only to the Governor-General in Council. 

 

2. The financial matters were brought entirely under the control of the Governor-General in Council. It meant that the Governors were not allowed to create any new office or grant any new salary, gratuity, allowances, etc., without the permission of the Governor-General.

 

3. In the case of Bengal Presidency, it was divided into two Presidencies – one was the Presidency of Fort William and the other, the Presidency of Agra.

 

 

Indianisation of the Civil Services – Section 87

 

In the section 87 of the Charter Act, it was written that 'no native or natural born subject of His Majesty resident in India, shall, by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent, or any of them be disabled from holding any place, office or employment under the said Company.'

It is evident that it was an essential principle of British policy towards Indian employment. William Bentinck supported the Indians' involvement in the administration. This attracted the Indians' attention and stimulated them to work according to British laws. 

 

Abolition of Slavery

A provision was made for the removal of slavery in India, instructing the Governor-General in Council to take steps in that direction.