What are the features of Regulating Act of 1773?
Q. Which of the following are the features of the Regulating Act of 1773?
1) It is provided for the establishment of Supreme Court at Calcutta (1774).
2) It created executive council for Governor General of Bengal.
3) It made the governors of Bombay and Madras presidencies subordinate to the Governor General of Bengal.
4) It established Board of Control for managing Political Affairs.- Published on 12 Feb 17a. Only 2, 3 and 4
b. Only 1, 3 and 4
c. Only 1, 2 and 3
d. All of the above
ANSWER: Only 1, 2 and 3
In 1765, the East India Company, which till now had purely trading functions obtained the ‘Diwani’ (i.e., rights over revenue and civil justice) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
- Regulating Act of 1773 is of great constitutional importance as it was the first step taken by the British Government to control and regulate the affairs of the East India Company in India.
- Also, it recognized, the political and administrative functions of the Company.
- And it laid the foundations of central administration in India.
Features of the Act are -
1. It designated the Governor of Bengal as the ‘Governor-General of Bengal’. First Governor-General was Lord Warren Hastings.
2. It created an Executive Council of four members to assist him.
3. It made the governors of Bombay and Madras presidencies subordinate to the Governor General of Bengal (earlier the 3 presidencies were independent of one another).
4. It provided for the establishment of a Supreme Court at Calcutta (1774) having one chief justice and three other judges.
5. It prohibited any private trade or accepting presents or bribes from the ‘natives’ for the servants of the Company.
6. The Court of Directors (governing body of the Company) were to report on its revenue, civil, and military affairs in India to the British Government, thus strengthening the control of the British Government over the Company.
- Later ‘Amending Act of 1781’ or the ‘Act of Settlement’ was passed by British Parliament to correct defects in 1773 Act.
- Pitts India Act (introduced by British PM William Pitt) was passed in 1784.
Its features were -
1. It distinguished between the commercial and political functions of the Company.
2. It allowed the Court of Directors to manage the commercial affairs
3. It created a new body,‘Board of Control’ to manage the political affairs.
4. Thus, establishing a system of double government.
5. Board of Control was to supervise and direct all operations of the civil and military government or revenues of the British possessions in India.
- Significance of the Act is that, first, the Company’s territories in India were for the first time called the ‘British possessions in India’; and second, the British Government was given the complete control over Company’s affairs and its administration in India.
