India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947; India -- Politics and government -- 1765-1947
Bihar and Orissa governed by a Lieutenant-Governor with Legislative and
Executive Councils; United Provinces, Punjab and Burma by a
Lieutenant-Governor with only a Legislative Council; Central Provinces
and Assam by a Chief Commissioner with only a Legislative Council, and
the remaining by Chief Commissioners without any Councils.
(3) _Legislative._--The Provincial Legislative Councils enjoy limited
powers for legislation in the provinces. The Governor is the President
of the Council.
The elected members of the Legislative Council are elected by
constituencies formed of Municipal and Local Boards, and Landlords with
a separate constituency for Mohammedans. They are in a minority except
in Bengal, where they have at present only a small majority. The
Legislative Councils have no control over the Executive or the Budget.
The Acts of the Provincial Legislature must be assented to first by the
Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or the Commissioner as the case may be,
and then by the Governor-General subject always to disallowance by the
Crown.
PUBLIC SERVICES
Recruitment, examination, and other matters relating to Indian services
are at present under the control of the Indian Government and the
Secretary of State, with no statutory limit for recruitment in India.
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
Half the members of Municipalities and Local Boards are generally
elected, but the bodies are under official control.
III. THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS
(1) _General._--All Provinces having Legislative Councils at present
(except Burma) should have a Governor with Executive and Legislative
Councils. A complete separation will be made between Indian and
Provincial Revenues. Provincial Governments are to have certain powers
of taxation and borrowing.
Responsible Government is to be introduced in the Provinces by a
division of departments into reserved (for Government) and transferred
(to popular control) subject to a revision after five years. (A
Committee is appointed to settle which subjects should be transferred.
The report is not yet out.)
(2) _The Executive_ would be a kind of Diarchy, consisting of the
Governor and two members (one of whom is to be an Indian) who will be in
charge of the reserved subjects, and responsible only to Government; and
a Minister or Ministers, nominated by the Governor from the elected
members of the Council, who will be in charge of the transferred
subjects and responsible not to the Legislature, but to the electors who
may not elect him next time. There may also be additional members
without Portfolios for the purpose of consultation.
Ministers to have no voice in decisions concerning reserved subjects or
about the supply for them in the Budget.
There will be Under-Secretaries and Standing Committees from the members
of the Legislative Councils to assist the Executive.
(3) _Legislative Councils._--These would be practically two Provincial
Legislative Bodies: (1) Legislative Council. (2) Grand Committee.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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