Significance of the Government of India Act, 1935 in the History of Constitutional Development in India- (Article)

On August 1935, the Government of India passed lengthiest Act in its own history, the said contained 321 sections and 10 schedules the act came to be known as, Government of India Act, 1935 under the British Act of Parliament. Once the act was passed the government saw that it was too lengthy to be regulated with efficiency and thus, the government decided to divide it into two parts for the act to function in a proper manner these two parts were,

First, the Government of India Act, 1935 and the second, The Government of Burma Act, 1935.

As per this act, if fifty percent of the Indian states decides to join India, India would become a federation; we would have a greater number of representatives in the central legislature’s two houses. Although, the concerned provisions in respect to the federation were not implemented. If we consider over the position of the provinces, this act of 1935 came out as an immense development to the real time condition of the same. The powers and potential of the legislative organ of the government was increased and the provincial government ministers were called to be responsible for the same. Nevertheless, in certain areas like of police, the authority remained with the government itself. Right to vote was still unapproached to all the citizens of the state and only fourteen percent of the same had this authority to vote. British government held the powers to appoint the governor-general and governors but still they were not responsible to the legislatures.

The very controversial Simon Commission report introduced in the year 1928 was controversial primarily due to the fact it did not discuss about the representation of Indians but talked solely about British subjects. The British Government persisted to speak about the constitutional reforms for the colony of India and as an end result, we have the three spherical desk conferences in the years 1930-1932. Though all of them were not successful, we did see that the British Government was continuously looking for certain constitutional reforms, taking into account the enormous contribution of the Indians in both the World Wars. This was the vital catalyst in talking about Dominion Status.

The fundamental objective of the Act which stays one of the longest legislations of British Indian History was not to provide dominion reputation or Independence. Its sole purpose at this factor was to subdue the developing nationalism which the country was showing. The Act talks about the notion of a Federation consisting of British India and the Indian State. The Constituents of the federation would be the eleven provinces, 6 chief-commissioners provinces and all those who agreed to join. At the time of joining, the ruler of the State was required to sign an instrument of accession mentioning the extent to which it consented to lay down its authority to the Federal Government. This was something that would lead to troubles in the post-colonial India. However, at this arena of time, they still enjoyed the full freedom to manage internal affairs of the State.

For the first time in the British-Indian history, we see the idea of provincial autonomy where the provinces obtained a realm of the autonomy. Provincial dyarchy which was delivered through the Government of India Act of 1919 was absolutely carried out away with and dyarchy was introduced at the center. The 1935 Act had already divided powers between the center and the provinces. In this regard, there were three lists which had the subject under every government, namely the federal list, the provincial list and the concurrent list.

The Governor who was the head of the executive, was assisted by a Council of Ministers. The ministers were accountable to the provincial legislatures who managed them and also had the power to eliminate them. The subjects given under the Federal list had been divided into two, Reserved and Transferred. The reserved subjects covered the most essential subjects like defense, external-affairs etc. The Governor General had control over these reserved subjects but apart from that he also had unique powers to intervene in the transferred subjects also. As far as the bi-cameral legislature was concerned, the lower house would be referred to as the Federal Assembly and the upper house was referred to as the Council of States. There were separate electorates for the minority communities, women and the depressed class. This Act also introduced Franchise in as a complete new system whereby it introduced direct elections for the first time in the Indian History. About 10% of the entire population existing at that time was granted the right to vote which was an enormous improvement from the provisions of the Government of India Act, 1919.

One of the most important aspect to consider in this regard is that through this act, the British Parliament retained its supremacy over the Indian Legislatures, both Provincial and Federal.

The Indian Perception- It must be noted that at this point of time, the most vital political organization in the country was the Indian National Congress. It did not identify the Act in a proper spirit because it felt that the British Government failed to meet the requirements that they had created. It went on record to say that the Act was a slave charter that tried to reinforce and perpetuate the financial bondage of India. What the Congress basically supposed was that through this Act, the British had performed nothing but solidified their financial grasp over India. However, the Congress did not show its disappointment in the form of opposing the Act in the strict sense. On the contrary, it prompted its members to fight through legislative measures and get elected. In this way, through the British technique itself, the Congress would be able to seek extra representation. The Muslim League which was the other strong political organization at this point of time also resorted to the Congress model. Instead of complaining about the drawbacks of the act, it focused on all the positives that the act offered. It refrained from directly boycotting the act. It remains a primary fact that the predominant purpose of the Government of India Act of 1935 was to lengthen the sustenance of the British Empire and to by hook or by crook curb the developing nationalism which was asking for “Purna Swaraj”. With this goal in mind, the provisions of the Act were made. This Act later became out to be the basis on which the modern India’s constitution was laid. Whether it be the system of division of power between the center and the state or it be the establishment of the Public Service Commissions, this was the act which shaped a considerable element of the Constitution especially the administrative provisions.

The main objectivity of the act of 1935 was that the government of India was under the British Crown. So, the authorities and their functions derive from the Crown, in so far as the crown did not itself retain executive functions. This conception, familiar in dominion constitutions, was absent in earlier Acts passed for India. Hence, the act of 1935 served some useful purposes by the experiment of provincial autonomy, thus we can say that the Government of India Act, 1935 marks a point of no return in the history of constitutional development in India.

 

 - Rajat Nischal

Symbiosis Law School.