Indian Councils Act 1892

The Indian Councils Act 1892 was an Act of theParliament of the United Kingdom that authorized an in-crease in the size of the various legislative councils inBritish India. Enacted due to the demand of the IndianNational Congress to expand legislative council, the num-ber of non-official members was increased both in centraland provincial legislative councils.The non official mem-bers of Indian legislative councils were henceforth to benominated by Bengal chamber of commerce and provin-cial legislative council.The universities, district board, municipalities,zamindars and chambers of commerce were empoweredto recommend members to provincial councils. Thuswas introduced the principle of representation. It alsorelaxed restrictions imposed by the Indian Councils Act1861, thus allowing the councils to discuss each year’sannual financial statement. They could also put questionswithin certain limits to the government on the matter ofpublic interest after giving six days’ notice, but none ofthem was given right to ask supplementary questions.Thus it prepared the base of Indian democracy.The act also increased the number of non officials incouncils to between 10 and 16, but provincial represen-tation was abolished. The law member was made a per-manent member.In 1892, the council consisted of 24 members, only fivebeing where Indians.[2]

1 References[1] Short title as conferred by s. 8 of the Act; the modern

convention for the citation of short titles omits the commaafter the word “Act”

[2] The Government of India: Being a Digest of the StatuteLaw Relating Thereto, by Sir Courtenay Ilbert, 1st edition(1898), publ. Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 110

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