Charter Act of 1853

       Charter Act of 1853

The act renewed the powers of the Company and allowed it to retain the possession of Indian territories in trust of British Crown.The following two events resulted into the Charter Act of 1853:

1. Raja Ram Mohan Roy's England visit and

2. Petitions of Bombay Association and Madras Native Association 

Unlike the previous charter acts of 1793, 1813 and 1833 which renewed the charter for 20 years; this was for the first time this Charter Act did not fix any time limit for continuance of the administration of East India Company in India.

      Features of the Act

• For the first time, the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General’s council were separated.
• It provided for additional SIX new members called legislative councillors to the council making it a council of 12 members.
• The Law member (fourth member) became a full member with the right to vote.
• The Court of Directors now could create a new presidency or province. This was because of the difficulties that were faced in administering the increasingly large Indian territories of Britain.
• It introduced, for the first time, local representation in the Indian (Central) Legislative Council. Of the six new legislative members of the governor-general’s council, four members were appointed by the local (provincial) governments of Madras, Bombay, Bengal and North Western Provinces.
• This Act also led to the creation of Assam, Burma and the Central Provinces.
• This Act also made provisions for recruitment to Civil Services based on open annual competition examination including Indians. Thus It gave birth to the Indian civil services and was open to all including Indians.

Further reading:
Charter Act of 1833
Government of India Act, 1858