1

History Project Report on The

Government of India Act
1935.





Submitted to:- Mrs.Vijaylakshmi
Submitted by:- Dev pragya Verma
(17/13) &
Parneet Kaur Saroy
(55/13).
3
rd
semester,section-A





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Acknowledgement.

We take this opportunity to express our profound gratitude and
deep regards to our guide Mrs. Vijay Lakshmi for her exemplary
guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the
course of this project. The blessing, help and guidance given by
her time to time shall carry a long way in the journey of life on
which we are about to embark.













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Index
1. Background to the Act
2. Introduction
3. Some features of the act
4. Objectives of the British Government
5. Defects of the establishment of federal court

6. Defects: British Political Needs vs. Indian Constitutional Needs

7. Criticisms

8. Bibliography












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Background to the Act
Indians had increasingly been demanding a greater role in the government
of their country since the late 19th century. The Indian contribution to the
British war effort during the First World War meant that even the more
conservative elements in the British political establishment felt the
necessity of constitutional change, resulting in the Government of India Act
1919. That Act introduced a novel system of government known as provincial
"dyarchy", i.e., certain areas of government (such as education) were placed
in the hands of ministers responsible to the provincial even for those areas
over which they had gained nominal control, the "purse strings" were still in
the hands of British officialdom.
The intention had been that a review of India's constitutional
arrangements and those princely states that were willing to accede to it.
However, division between Congress and Muslim representatives proved to
be a major factor in preventing agreement as to much of the important
detail of how federation would work in practice.
Against this practice, the new Conservative-dominated National
Government in London decided to go ahead with drafting its own proposals
(the white paper). A joint parliamentary select committee, chaired
by Lord Linlithgow, reviewed the white paper proposals at great length.
On the basis of this white paper, the Government of India Bill was
framed. At the committee stage and later, to appease the diehards, the
"safeguards" were strengthened, and indirect elections were reinstated
for the Central Legislative Assembly (the central legislature's lower
house). The bill duly passed into law in August 1935.
As a result of this process, although the Government of India Act
1935 was intended to go some way towards meeting Indian demands, both
the detail of the bill and the lack of Indian involvement in drafting its
contents meant that the Act met with a lukewarm response at best in
India, while still proving too radical for a significant element in Britain.




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Introduction
In 1927, the British government appointed the Simon commission
to study the working of dyarchy in the provinces and make
proposals for further constitutional changes. The commission
visited India and studied the implementation of the act of 1919.
In its report, the Simon commission recommended to abolish
dyarchy to introduce provincial autonomy to provide safeguards
to minorities and to have a federal form of government at the
centre.
Ramsay Macdonald convened the round table conference at
London to evolve the solution for the constitutional problem.
Mahatma Gandhi attended the second round table conference in
1931. After the third round table conference, the British
government published the white paper, outlining the new scheme
of reforms. Afterwards a joint select committee of parliament
was set up to draft a bill which later took form of government of
India act 1935. Sir Samuel Hoare was the secretary for state of
India at that time.
The bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 5
th
February
1935. It was introduced in the House of Lords on 6
th
June 1935.
The bill received the royal assent on 2
nd
August 1935 as
government of India act 1935.This act had 321 sections and 10
schedules, it divided the subjects in three lists i.e. the federal
legislative list, the provisional legislative list, and the concurrent
list. This act dealt with: (a) All India Federation; (b) Provincial
Autonomy; (c) Dyarchy at the centre, and (d) a Federal Court.




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All India Federation: In this All India Federation the
British India provinces, the chief commissioners of
provinces and those Indian states which might accede to be
united were included. The federation consisted of 11
provinces, 6 chief commissioners and other states.
The accession to the federation was voluntary.
This act ended the system of dyarchy introduced by
government of India act 1919, and provided for the
establishment of Federation of India, to be made up of
both British India and some or all of the princely states.
This act introduced the direct elections for the first time &
increased franchise from 7 million to 35 million people.
The partial reorganisation of provinces included separation of
Sind from Bombay, splitting Bihar and Orissa into different
provinces, complete separation of Burma from India,
detachment of Aden from India and establishing as a separate
colony. However, the degree of autonomy introduced at
provincial level was subject to important limitations: the
provincial governors retained important reserves power, and
the British authorities also retained a right to suspend
responsible government. The act proposed that federation of
India could come into existence only if as many princely states
were entitled to one half of the state seats in upper house of
the federal legislature.
The parts of the act intended to establish the federation of
India never came into operation, due to opposition from the
rulers of princely states. The remaining parts of the act came
into existence in 1937, when the first election under act also
held. The proposed federal polity was to have a bicameral
legislature at the centre.
Upper house: The upper house was called Council of States and it
consisted of 260 members. Out of 260 members 156 were to
represent the provinces and 104 state natives. Out of 156 which


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were representing the provinces 150 were to be elected on
communal basis. Seats reserved for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, were to
be filled by direct elections and seats reserved for Indian
Christians, Anglo Indians and Europeans was to be filled by indirect
elections of electoral college consisting of their representing
members.
Lower house: The lower house was to be called the Federal
Assembly. It consisted of 375 members out of whom 250
represent provinces and 125 represent the princely states. The
term of assembly was 5 years but it could be dissolved earlier
also.

Provincial autonomy: The provincial part of the Act, which went into
effect automatically, basically followed the recommendations of
the Simon Commission. Provincial dyarchy was abolished; that is,
all provincial portfolios were to be placed in charge of ministers
enjoying the support of the provincial legislatures. The British-
appointed provincial governors, who were responsible to the
British Government via the Viceroy and Secretary of State for
India, were to accept the recommendations of the ministers
unless, in their view, they negatively affected his areas of
statutory special responsibilities such as the prevention of any
grave menace to the peace or tranquillity of a province and the
safeguarding of the legitimate interests of minorities. In the
event of political breakdown, the governor, under the supervision
of the Viceroy, could take over total control of the provincial
government. This, in fact, allowed the governors a more

untrammelled control than any British official had enjoyed in the
history of the Raj. After the resignation of the congress


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provincial ministries in 1939, the governors did directly rule the
ex-Congress provinces throughout the war.
It was generally recognized, that the provincial part of the Act,
conferred a great deal of power and patronage on provincial
politicians as long as both British officials and Indian politicians
played by the rules. However, the paternalistic threat of the
intervention by the British governor rankled.
Dyarchy at the centre: The Government of India Act, 1935
introduced the system of Dyarchy at the centre, provided for
the division of the federal subjects into two, the reserved side
and the transferred side, to be administered by the governor-
general_ assisted by the executive councillors and by the
governor-general with the aid and advice of the council of
ministers, respectively. Their strength was not to exceed 10.
Federal court: the federal court was established which began its
functioning from October 1, 1937. The Chief Justice of the
federal court was Sir Maurice Gwyer. It consisted of one chief
justice and not more than 6 judges.











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Some features of the act.

No preamble: the ambiguity of British commitment to dominion
status.
While it had become uncommon for British Acts of Parliament
to contain a preamble, the absence of one from the Government
of India Act 1935 contrasts sharply with the 1919 Act, which set
out the broad philosophy of that Act's aims in relation to Indian
political development.
Indian demands were by now centering on British India achieving
constitutional parity with the existing Dominions such
as Canada and Australia, which would have meant complete
autonomy within the British Commonwealth. A significant element
in British political circles doubted that Indians were capable of
running their country on this basis, and saw Dominion status as
something that might, perhaps, be aimed for after a long period
of gradual constitutional development, with sufficient
"safeguards".
This tension between and within Indian and British views resulted
in the clumsy compromise of the 1935 Act having no preamble of
its own, but keeping in place the 1919 Act's preamble even while
repealing the remainder of that Act. Unsurprisingly, this was seen
in India as yet more mixed messages from the British, suggesting
at best a lukewarm attitude and at worst suggesting a "minimum
necessary" approach towards satisfying Indian desires.





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No Bill of Rights
In contrast with most modern constitutions, but in common with
Commonwealth constitutional legislation of the time, the Act does
not include a "bill of rights" within the new system that it aimed
to establish. However, in the case of the proposed Federation of
India there was a further complication in incorporating such a set
of rights, as the new entity would have included nominally
sovereign (and generally autocratic) princely states.
A different approach was considered by some, though, as the
draft outline constitution in the Nehru Report included such a bill
of rights.

Safeguards
The Act was not only extremely detailed, but it was riddled with
safeguards designed to enable the British Government to
intervene whenever it saw the need in order to maintain British
responsibilities and interests. To achieve this, in the face of a
gradually increasing Indianization of the institutions of the
Government of India, the Act concentrated the decision for the
use and the actual administration of the safeguards in the hands
of the British-appointed Viceroy and provincial governors who
were subject to the control of the Secretary of State for India.

Reality of responsible government Under the Act
A close reading of the Act reveals that the British Government
equipped itself with the legal instruments to take back total
control at any time they considered this to be desirable.
However, doing so without good reason would totally sink their


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credibility with groups in India whose support the act was aimed
at securing.
The governor general remained the head of the central
administration and enjoyed wide powers concerning
administration, legislation and finance.
No finance bill could be placed in the central legislature without
the consent of governor general.
The reserve bank of India was established.
The composition of the provincial legislature varied from province
to province. Bicameral Legislature were established in Assam,
Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Madras and U.P.











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Objectives of the British Government
The federal part of the Act was designed to meet the aims of
the Conservative Party. Over the very long term, the
Conservative leadership expected the Act to lead to a
nominally dominion status India, conservative in outlook,
dominated by an alliance of Hindu princes and right-wing Hindus
which would be well disposed to place itself under the guidance
and protection of the United Kingdom. In the medium term, the
Act was expected to (in rough order of importance):
Win the support of moderate nationalists since its formal aim
was to lead eventually to a Dominion of India which, as defined
under the Statute of Westminster 1931 virtually equalled
independence;
Retain British control of the Indian Army, Indian finances, and
Indias foreign relations for another generation;
Win Muslim support by conceding most of Jinnah's Fourteen
Points
Convince the Princes to join the Federation by giving the
Princes conditions for entry never likely to be equaled. It was
expected that enough would join to allow the establishment of
the Federation. The terms offered to the Princes included:
Each Prince would select his states representative in the Federal
Legislature. There would be no pressure for Princes to
democratize their administrations or allow elections for state
representatives in the Federal Legislature.
The Princes would enjoy heavy weightage. The Princely States
represented about a quarter of the population of India and
produced well under a quarter of its wealth. Under the Act:
The Upper House of the Federal Legislature, the Council of
State, would consist of 260 members: 156 (60%) elected from
the British India and 104 (40%) nominated by the rulers of the
princely states.


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The Lower House, the Federal Assembly, would consist of 375
members: 250 (67%) elected by the Legislative Assemblies of the
British Indian provinces; 125 (33%) nominated by the rulers of
the princely states.
Ensuring that the Congress could never rule alone or gain enough
seats to bring down the government
This was done by over-representing the Princes, by giving every
possible minority the right to separately vote for candidates
belonging to their respective communities, and by making the
executive theoretically, but not practically, removable by the
legislature.

The Working of the Act
The British government sent out Lord Linlithgow as the new
viceroy with the remit of bringing the Act into effect. Linlithgow
was intelligent, extremely hard working, honest, serious and
determined to make a success out of the Act. However, he was
also unimaginative, stolid, legalistic and found it very difficult to
"get on terms" with people outside his immediate circle.
In 1937, after the holding of provincial elections, Provincial
Autonomy commenced. From that point until the declaration of
war in 1939, Linlithgow tirelessly tried to get enough of the
Princes to accede to launch the Federation. In this he received
only the weakest backing from the Home Government and in the
end the Princes rejected the Federation en masse. In September
1939, Linlithgow simply declared that India was at war with
Germany. Though Linlithgow's behaviour was constitutionally
correct it was also offensive to much of Indian opinion that the
Viceroy had not consulted the elected representatives of the
Indian people before taking such a momentous decision. This led
directly to the resignation of the Congress provincial ministries.
From 1939, Linlithgow concentrated on supporting the war effort.


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Defects of the establishment
of Federal Court

Very limited jurisdiction
Appeals were even allowed to privy council
Only a restricted category of cases in which a
question of constitutional law was involved was forwarded to
Federal court.
The courts were not authorized to enforce its own
decisions directly but with the aid of civil and judicial
authorities throughout the federation.

No appeals were allowed without the certificate from
British and state high courts.









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Defects: British
Political Needs vs. Indian Constitutional
Needs

The Bill, like most modern Bills, contains no Preamble.
Dyarchy at the Centre
Option for the states
Privileged position for the states
Communal award
Discretionary powers
Mistrust of Indians
No Bill of Rights
The federal part of the Act was never introduced due
to strong opposition from the princely state rulers.
The Act denied Indians the right to draft, or modify, their
own constitution.









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Criticisms
Many criticisms have been levelled by many writers and leaders
against the act of 1935. According to Pandit Nehru the new
constitution was a machine with strong brakes and no engine.
According to Sir R.K Shanmugan Chettiar, it is indeed a
far cry between the Government of India act and
Dominion Status.
C.Rajagopalchariya says that, the new constitution was
worse than dyarchy.
The Indians were not given control over government of
their country. It was not liked by the Indians.
The Indians protested against the system of indirect
elections of the federal assembly.
The dyarchical form of government of the centre was
hated by Indians.
Another defect of the act was that the Indians were not
given the absolute control over defence.
The seats given in the legislature on the basis of
community have been criticised by many writers.
According to Fazal-ul-haq, the premier of Bengal under
the act of 1935 there was to be neither Hindu raj nor
Muslim raj but the British raj.
The ruler of the Indian states criticised the federal
scheme on the ground that it did not give them any power
or authority to leave the federation if once they joined
it.
The discretionary powers of the governors reduced
provincial autonomy to a farce.


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Finally it is obvious that the powers of the provincial legislature
were very much restricted. At the same time the upper chambers
were deliberately made reactionary bodies.


Reactions of Indians: As already stated earlier the new
constitution could not attract the Indians. Like almost all the Indian
political parties the Muslim League also did not show favourable
reaction to the new constitution but they accepted the prevailing
circumstances.














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Bibliography

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_India_Act_1
935(last visited on 27
th
September, 8:00 p.m.)
2. http://www.studylecturenotes.com/social-sciences/law/454-
the-government-of-india-act-1935-a-detailed-lecture(last
visited on 26
th
September, 4:00p.m.)
3. http://www.scribd.com/doc/33263645/The-Government-of-
India-Act-1935-A-Detailed-Study(last visited on 24
th

September, 6:30 p. m.)
4.M.P. Jain, Constitutional History of India, Wadhwa and Corg.
New Delhi, 2006
5.Bipan Chandra, Indias struggle for Independence, Penguin
Books, New Delhi, 2001.