appointment of a council for either or both of those provinces, and whilst any such order is in force the governor of the province to which the order refers has all the powers of the Governor thereof in Council (d). (a) It seems desirable to avoid the term 'presidency,' which dates from a time when British India was divided into three presidencies. But the Governments of Madras and Bombay occupy a position different from and superior to that of the other local Governments. The governor is appointed by the Crown, and not by the governor-general ; he is assisted by an executive council, and he retains the right of communicating directly with the Secretary of State (above, s. 15). (b) e. g. to the control of the governor-general. (c) Before the Act of 1858 the appointments were made by the Court of Directors with the approval of the Crown. (d) This power was given by the Act of 1833, but has never been exercised. members 51.-(1) The ordinary (a) members of the councils of the Ordinary governors of Madras and Bombay are appointed by His of counMajesty by warrant under the royal sign manual. cils. Ss. 24, 25. [33 Geo. (2) The number of the ordinary members of each of the said III, c. 52, councils is such number not exceeding three as the Secretary 3 & 4 of State directs (b). Will. IV, 97, s. 8.] (3) Every ordinary member of the said councils must be a person who at the time of his appointment has been for Vict. c. at least twelve years in the service of the Crown in India (c). (4) Provided that if the commander-in-chief of His Majesty's forces in India (not being likewise governorgeneral) happens to be resident at Madras or Bombay he is, [33 Geo. III, c. 52, during his continuance there, a member of the governor's s. 33.1 council (d). (a) The commanders-in-chief of the Madras and Bombay armies might be appointed, and, in fact, were always appointed, extraordinary members of the Madras and Bombay Councils. But these offices were abolished by the Madras and Bombay Armies Act, 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 62). The term 'ordinary' is used in this section by way of distinction from additional or legislative members (see s. 60). (b) The number was reduced from three to two in 1833, and is now two. (c) The qualification under 33 Geo. III, c. 52, s. 25, is twelve years' residence in India in the service of the East India Company. The Ordinary lative qualification for membership of the governor-general's council is somewhat different (s. 39). (d) This proviso, which is taken from the Act of 1793, is practically inoperative. 52.-(1) The councils of the governors of Madras and Bomand legis- bay hold ordinary meetings, that is to say, meetings for meetings executive purposes; and legislative meetings, that is to say, meetings for the purpose of making laws. of Madras and Bombay Councils. Procedure difference (2) The ordinary members of those councils are entitled to be present at all meetings thereof (a). (a) This section does not reproduce any specific enactment, but represents the existing law. 53. The foregoing provisions of this Digest with respect to in cases of the procedure in case of a difference of opinion between the of opinion. governor-general and his council, and in case of the governor[33 Geo. ÏÏÏ, c. 52, general being obliged to absent himself from his council by ss. 47, 48, indisposition or other cause, apply, with the necessary modifications, in the case of a difference of opinion between the Governor of Madras or Bombay and his council, and in the case of either of those governors being obliged to absent himself from his council (a). 49.] Business nor in (a) See ss. 44 and 46. Section 44 reproduces 33 Geo. III, c. 52, ss. 47-49, as modified by 33 & 34 Vict. c. 3, s. 5. The last enactment applies only to the governor-general's council, but, as will be seen from the note to s. 44, does not substantially modify the Act of Geo. III. 54.—(1) All orders and other proceedings of the Governor of of Gover- Madras in Council and of the Governor of Bombay in Council must be expressed to be made by the Governor in Council, and must be signed by a secretary to the Government of the province, or otherwise as the Governor in Council may direct (a). Council. [33 Geo. III, c. s. 39. 53 Geo. 52, III, c. 155, s. 79. 24 & 25 Vict. c. 67, s. 28.] respective councils, other than the business at legislative (2) The governors of Madras and Bombay respectively may make rules and orders for the conduct of business in their meetings, and every order made or act done in accordance with such rules and orders is deemed to be the order or the act of the Governor in Council. (a) See note on s. 43. Lieutenant-Governorships and other Provinces. ant-go vernors. 55.—(1) The provinces known as Bengal (a), the United LieutenProvinces of Agra and Oudh (b), the Punjab (c), Burma (c) and Eastern Bengal and Assam (a) are administered by 5 & 6 Will. IV, lieutenant-governors. (2) Every lieutenant-governor of a province in India is Vict. c. 95, appointed by the governor-general, subject to the approval of His Majesty (d). c. 52, s. 2. 16 & 17 s. 16. Vict. c. (3) A lieutenant-governor must have been, at the time of 21 & 22 his appointment, at least ten years in the service of the Crown 106, s. 29.] in India (e). (4) The Governor-General in Council may, with the approval of the Secretary of State in Council, declare and limit the extent of the authority of any lieutenant-governor (f). (a) By s. 16 of the Government of India Act, 1853, the Court of Directors were authorized to declare that the Governor-General of India should not be Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, but that a separate governor should be appointed for that presidency, and in that case a governor was to be appointed in like manner as the governors of Madras and Bombay, and the governorgeneral's power of appointing a deputy-governor of Bengal was to cease. But unless and until a separate governor of the presidency was so constituted, the Governor-General in Council might appoint any servant of the Company who had been ten years in its service in India to be lieutenant-governor of such part of the territories under the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal as, for the time being, might not be under the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces. The project of constituting a new governorship was abandoned, and under the alternative power a lieutenant-governor of the Lower Provinces of Bengal (now commonly known as Bengal) was appointed in 1854. In October, 1905, a new province was formed by detaching the eastern part of Bengal from the rest of the province and uniting it with Assam under a lieutenant-governor. See Act VII of 1905. (b) The lieutenant-governorship of the North-Western Provinces was of earlier date than the lieutenant-governorship of Bengal, and was constituted under an Act of 1835 (5 & 6 Will. IV, c. 52). The Act of 1833 had directed the division of the Presidency of Bengal into two distinct presidencies, one to be styled the Presidency of Fort William, the other the Presidency of Agra. The Act of 1835 authorized the Court of Directors to suspend these provisions, and directed that during the period of suspension the Governor-General in Council might appoint any servant of the Company who had been ten years in its service in India to the office of Lieutenant-Governor of the NorthWestern Provinces now under the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal,' a designation then appropriate, but since made inappropriate by the annexation of the Punjab. Power was also given to declare and limit the extent of the territories so placed under a lieutenantgovernor, and of the authority to be exercised by him. The arrangements thus temporarily made by the Act of 1835 were continued by the Act of 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. 95, s. 15). A lieutenant-governor of the North-Western Provinces was first appointed by notification, dated February 29, 1836 (Calcutta Gazette for March 2, 1836, second supplement). This notification merely gave the lieutenant-governor the powers of the Governor of Agra, and those powers, as defined by 3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 85, did not include any of the powers of the GovernorGeneral in Council under the Bengal Regulations. The power given by the Act of 1835 to define the authority of the lieutenant-governor is probably superseded by the powers under 17 & 18 Vict. c. 77, s. 4. The Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces used to be also Chief Commissioner of Oudh. In 1901, when the North-West Frontier Province was constituted, the old North-Western Provinces were united with Oudh under a lieutenant-governor, and the two provinces were designated the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The union was confirmed by Act VII of 1902. : (c) Section 17 of the Act of 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. 95) enacts that :It shall be lawful for the Court of Directors of the said Company, under such direction and control, if and when they think fit, to constitute one new presidency within the territories subject for the time being to the government of the said Company, and to declare and appoint what part of such territories shall be subject to the government of such new presidency; and unless and until such new presidency be constituted as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the said Court of Directors, under such direction and control as aforesaid, if and when they think fit, to authorize (in addition to such appointments as are herein before authorized to be continued and made for the territories now and heretofore under the said Presidency of Fort William) the appointment by the said Governor-General in Council of a lieutenantgovernor for any part of the territories for the time being subject to the government of the said Company, and to declare for what part of the said territories such lieutenant-governor shall be appointed, and the extent of his authority, and from time to time to revoke or alter any such declaration.' The power of constituting a new presidency was not exercised, but that of appointing a new lieutenant-governor was exercised in 1859 by the appointment of Sir John Lawrence as Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab. The rule of construction applied to recent Acts of Parliament by s. 32 of the Interpretation Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63), does not apply to the Act of 1853, and, apart from this, the power of appointing fresh lieutenant-governors under the Act of 1853 was probably exhausted by the constitution of a lieutenant-governor ship of the Punjab. Further powers of constituting lieutenantgovernorships are given by s. 46 of the Indian Councils Act, 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 67), but apparently are exercisable only when a new legislative council is established. See the note on s. 74 below. It was under these further powers that in 1897 Burma, and in 1905 Eastern Bengal and Assam, were constituted lieutenant-governorships. (d) See 21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, s. 29. (e) This provision applies in terms only to the lieutenant-governors of Bengal and the North-Western Provinces (now united with Oudh), but its operation has been perhaps extended by the final words of 21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, s. 29. (f) This sub-section reproduces s. 4 of the Act of 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 77), which, however, applies in terms only to the two older lieutenantgovernorships, the language being: 'It shall be lawful for the said Governor-General of India in Council, with the like sanction and approbation [i. e. of the Court of Directors and the Board of Control], from time to time to declare and limit the extent of the authority of the Governor in Council, Governor, or Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, or of Agra, or the North-Western Provinces, who is now, or may be hereafter, appointed.' But a power to alter the limits of provinces is given by other enactments. See s. 57 below. place 56. The Governor-General in Council may, with the ap- Power to proval of the Secretary of State, and by notification in the territory Gazette of India, take any part of British India under the under authority immediate authority and management of the Governor- of GoverGeneral in Council, and thereupon give all necessary orders and General in directions respecting the administration of that part, or other. Council. wise provide for the administration thereof. There is reason to believe that the enactment reproduced by this section was passed in consequence of a minute of Sir Barnes Peacock, forming an enclosure to a dispatch from the Government of India, dated July 16, 1852, and that it was mainly designed to give the Governor-General in Council the power which, according to Sir Barnes Peacock, he had not, of taking under his immediate executive control territory which formed part of some one of the presidencies. The section has been thus applied in various cases. Thus Arakan, which was originally annexed to Lower Bengal, was under this section taken into the hands of the Governor-General in Council and annexed to British Burma (Foreign Department Notification, No. 30 (Political), dated January 16, 1862). The province of Assam (now united with Eastern Bengal) was constituted by removing it under this section from the lieutenant-governorship of Bengal, taking it under the Governor-General in Council, and constituting it a chief commissionership, the regulation district of Sylhet being subsequently added to it in the same manner (Home Department Proclamation, No. 379, ILBERT nor [17 & 18 Vict. c. 77, s. 3.] |