Indian Councils Act 1892

The Indian Councils Act 1892 was an Act of British Parliament that introduced various amendments to the composition and function of legislative councils in British India. Most notably, the act entailed provisions on the number of additional members to be represented in the central and provincial councils. For example, the number of Additional Members elected to the Central Legislative Council was increased to a range of ten to sixteen members of whom, as per the Act of 1861, not less than half were to be non-officials, i.e. persons not in the Civil or military service of the Crown. The Governor-General was empowered to invite different bodies in India to elect, select or delegate their representatives and to make regulations for their nomination. After being presented to the House of Lords in 1890, the Act was passed in 1892 in response to nationalist movements beginning to surface across British India.

Indian Councils Act, 1892[1]
Citation55 & 56 Vict. c. 14
Introduced byR. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross on 9 February 1892
Dates
Royal assent20 June 1892
Commencement3 February 1893
Other legislation
Repealed byGovernment of India Act 1915
Status: Repealed

Under the Regulations adopted, the Central Legislative Council was to consist of nine ex-officio members (the Governor-General, six members of the Executive Council, the Commander-in-Chief and the head of the province in which the Council met), six official Additional Members and ten non-official members of the Legislative Councils of Bengal, Bombay, Madras and the North Western province. When Legislative Councils were established in Punjab and Burma, one member each was returned from these also. In conjunction with the ex-officio members, the official members constituted a majority.

Similar changes were introduced in the composition of provincial Legislative Councils. In all the provinces an official majority was maintained.

Whilst the Central Legislative Council was expanded to include between 10 and 16 Additional Members, specifics in provinces varied: Bombay came to have 8 Additional Members; Madras 20; Bengal 20; North Western Province & Oudh 15. The universities, district board, municipalities, zamindars and chambers of commerce were empowered to recommend members to provincial councils. Thus, whilst failing to answer calls for direct elections, the principle of representation was introduced.

In addition to these changes, the Act relaxed restrictions imposed by the Indian Councils Act 1861 in allowing councils to discuss (not vote on) each year's annual financial statement. They could also put questions within certain limits to the government on the matter of public interest after giving six days' notice, but none of them was given right to ask supplementary questions.

In 1892, the council consisted of 24 members, only five members were Indians.[2]

See also

References
  1. Short title as conferred by s. 8 of the Act; the modern convention for the citation of short titles omits the comma after the word "Act"
  2. The Government of India: Being a Digest of the Statute Law Relating Thereto, by Sir Courtenay Ilbert, 1st edition (1890), publ. Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 110
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