Page 31 - Parliament of India

The Indian Councils Act, 1909, which implemented the Morley-Minto
Reforms, carried forward the constitutional advance, begun by the Act of 1861,
to the threshold of representative government. For the first time an element of
election in the Legislative Council at the Centre as well as in the Provincial
Councils was introduced. The deliberative functions of the Legislative Councils
were enlarged. They were empowered to pass resolutions on the budget and on
matters of public importance, though these resolutions were only recommendatory
and not binding on the Executive Government.
The Government of India Act, 1919, which gave effect to the Montague-
Chchnsford Reforms, established for the first time a bicameral legislature at the
Centre. The Upper House (Council of State) was to have a maximum of 60
members. Of these, not less than half were to be elected and not more than
one-third could be officials. The Lower House (Legislative Assembly) was to
have a strength of 145, of whom at least five-sevenths were to be elected and at
least one-third of the remaining were to be non-officials.
The first Legislative Assembly, constituted under the 1919 Act, came into
being at the Centre in 1921. The Reforms while establishing partially
responsible governments in the Provinces, under a system of what was known as
'dyarchy', did not introduce any element of responsibility at the Centre. The
Central Legislature, though it possessed now for the first time the power to vote
supplies had no power to replace the Government. Even its limited powers
in the field of legislation and financial control were subject to the overriding
powers of the Governor-Gcneral-in-Council, who continued to remain responsible
only to the British Parliament through the Secretary of State for India.
The above reforms however proved totally inadequate to satisfy the popular
demand for responsible government. After a series of Round Table Conferences
with representatives of various interests and parties in India, held in London
during 1930-32, the British Government formulated certain proposals for further
constitutional reforms, which resulted in the enactment of the Government of
India Act, 1935.
The two outstanding features of the 1935 Act were (i) the provision for the
establishment of "the Federation of India"' uniting the Governors' Provinces of
what was then known as 'British India' and such of the Princely States (then
known as 'Indian States') as acceded to it, and (ii) the introduction of 'Provincial
Autonomy'.
The federal part of the 1935 Act, however, never came into operation as the
Princely States could not be persuaded to accede to the Federation. As a result,
the constitution of the Central Government in India remained what it was under

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