The Government of India Act 1919: the Central Legislature

Section 20: the President of a chamber

There shall be a President of the Legislative Assembly, who until the expiration of four years from its first meeting shall be a person appointed by the Governor-General, and thereafter shall be elected by the Assembly subject to the approval of the Governor-General.

That single provision is the beginning of the office of Speaker in India. Section 4 of the Act of 1909 had created a Vice-President appointed by the head of the government; section 20 makes the office elective after four years, and the first elected President of the Legislative Assembly took the chair in 1925.

Section 21: the terms

Every Council of State shall continue for five years, and every Legislative Assembly for three years, from its first meeting, subject to the provisos for earlier dissolution and extension.

Compare articles 83(1) and 83(2) of the Constitution, where the Council of States is a continuing body and the House of the People sits for five years. The idea that the two chambers have different tenures begins here.

Sections 23 to 26: powers and the budget

Sections 23 and 24 provide that, subject to the Act, provision may be made by rules under the principal Act as to the matters they specify, which include the conduct of business, the procedure of the chambers and the relations between them.

Section 25: subsections (1) and (3) of section 67 of the principal Act, which restricted the classes of business the Indian legislative council might transact, shall cease to have effect. That is the removal of the old limits on what the central legislature could discuss.

Section 26(1): the estimated annual expenditure and revenue of the Governor-General in Council shall be laid in the form of a statement before both chambers in each year.

The rules made under the Act then divided the estimates into heads that were votable and heads that were not votable, and gave the Assembly power to assent, refuse or reduce a demand for the votable heads, subject to the Governor-General's power to restore a demand where he considered it essential. So the Assembly acquired a genuine, and genuinely limited, control over expenditure. Compare 1892, when the councils could only discuss the financial statement, and 1909, when they could discuss and pass resolutions on it.

Section 28 adds to the measures which under section 67(2) of the principal Act require the previous sanction of the Governor-General, which is the reserved-subjects technique of section 43 of the Act of 1861 carried forward.

Section 27: certification

Where either chamber refuses leave to introduce, or fails to pass in a form recommended by the Governor-General, any Bill, the Governor-General may certify that the passage of the Bill is essential for the safety, tranquillity or interests of British India or any part of it, and thereupon the Bill takes effect as if it had been passed by both chambers.

This is the provision that decides how much the reforms of 1919 were worth, and an answer that omits it has described a legislature that did not exist.

A chamber with an elected majority can be overridden by one officer's certificate. The Governor-General's certificate is not a veto, which merely stops legislation; it is a positive power to legislate against the legislature. And it descends directly to section 44 of the Government of India Act 1935, where it survives with the same name.

Put sections 17 to 27 together and the Act's character is clear. It gives India a bicameral legislature with elected majorities, real if partial control over the budget, an elective presiding officer, and no power to prevent a Bill it has rejected becoming law.

Sections 29 to 46: the rest

The remainder of the Act deals with the machinery around the legislature and the Government, and a student needs the outline rather than the detail: the limit on the size of the Governor-General's Executive Council removed (s.29), the Secretary of State's salary charged in the United Kingdom (s.30), the reconstitution of the Council of India (ss.31 to 34), a High Commissioner for India in the United Kingdom (s.35), the civil services and appointments of persons domiciled in India (ss.36, 37), a public service commission of not more than five members (s.38), an auditor-general (s.39), and, most importantly for the political history:

Section 41: at the expiration of ten years after the passing of the Act, the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of both Houses of Parliament, shall submit for the approval of His Majesty the names of persons to form a commission to inquire into the working of the system of government, the growth of education and the development of representative institutions in India, and to report whether and to what extent it is desirable to establish responsible government or to extend, modify or restrict the degree of responsible government then existing.

That is the statutory basis of the Simon Commission of 1927, whose appointment without a single Indian member produced the boycott, the round table conferences and, eventually, the Government of India Act 1935. A student who can name the section is giving the reason the next reform happened when it did.

A worked example

A Bill in the Legislative Assembly in 1928 to which the Government objects.

1. The Assembly, with its elected majority, refuses leave to introduce a Government Bill, or amends a Government Bill against the Governor-General's recommendation.
2. The Governor-General may certify under section 27 that its passage is essential for the safety, tranquillity or interests of British India, and it becomes law.
3. On the budget, the Assembly may refuse or reduce a demand under the votable heads, and the Governor-General may restore it if he considers the expenditure essential.
4. On a reserved matter under section 28, the Bill cannot even be introduced without his previous sanction.

So the Assembly's real powers were the power to embarrass, to delay, to publicise and to refuse supply on the votable heads. That is not nothing, and it is not responsible government.

What beginners get wrong

"The Act of 1919 introduced elections." The Act of 1909 did. The Act of 1919 gave the elected members a majority at the centre and created two chambers.

"The Legislative Assembly controlled the budget." It voted on the votable heads and could be overridden by the Governor-General's restoration; substantial heads were not votable at all.

"The Governor-General had a veto." He had a veto and something more: certification under section 27, a power to make a Bill law although a chamber had refused it.

"The Act of 1919 is the Montagu-Chelmsford report." The report of 1918 by the Secretary of State, Montagu, and the Viceroy, Chelmsford, is the document on which the Act is based. Name the Act for the law and the report for the policy.

Limits and criticism

The fair criticism is that the Act separated the appearance of a legislature from its substance, and it did so deliberately.

What it gave: two chambers, elected majorities, a growing power over the purse, an elected presiding officer after four years, the removal of the old limits on business, and a statutory promise of review after ten years.

What it withheld: responsibility. The executive at the centre was not removable by the Assembly, was not drawn from it and did not depend on its confidence. And section 27 meant that the last word on legislation belonged to the Governor-General.

That combination, an elected chamber without the power to change the government, is what made the Assembly of the 1920s and 1930s a stage for opposition rather than an instrument of government, and it is why the Act of 1935 had to go further at the provincial level. The provinces are the next chapter, and they are where the Act of 1919's real experiment was made.

Quick revision

• Government of India Act 1919, 9 & 10 Geo. V c. 101, amending the Act of 1915, which it calls "the principal Act". Based on the Montagu-Chelmsford report of 1918.
• s.17: the Indian legislature is the Governor-General and two chambers, the Council of State and the Legislative Assembly.
• s.18: Council of State, not more than sixty members, not more than twenty official. s.19: the Assembly, by rules, with an elected majority.
• s.20: a President of the Assembly, appointed by the Governor-General for four years and elected thereafter, subject to approval.
• s.21: Council of State five years, Assembly three years. s.22: an official may not be elected; a non-official vacates his seat on accepting office.
• s.25: the old restrictions in s.67(1) and (3) of the principal Act cease. s.26: the annual statement of estimated expenditure and revenue laid before both chambers; the rules made votable and non-votable heads.
• s.27: certification. The Governor-General may certify that a Bill either chamber has refused is essential, and it takes effect as if passed.
• s.28: more measures requiring his previous sanction.
• s.35: a High Commissioner in the United Kingdom. s.38: a public service commission. s.39: an auditor-general.
• s.41: a commission after ten years to report on responsible government: the basis of the Simon Commission.

Test yourself

1. What did section 17 establish? That the Indian legislature should consist of the Governor-General and two chambers, the Council of State and the Legislative Assembly, which introduced bicameralism and made the Governor-General part of the legislature.

2. Describe the power of certification and say why it matters. Under section 27, where either chamber refused leave to introduce a Bill or failed to pass it in the form the Governor-General recommended, he might certify that its passage was essential for the safety, tranquillity or interests of British India, and it then took effect as if passed by both chambers. It matters because it is a power to legislate against an elected chamber, and it descends to section 44 of the Act of 1935.

3. How much control did the Legislative Assembly have over money? The annual statement was laid before both chambers under section 26, and the rules divided the estimates into votable and non-votable heads. The Assembly could assent to, refuse or reduce demands under the votable heads, subject to the Governor-General's power to restore a demand he considered essential.

4. What is the difference between the Act of 1909 and the Act of 1919 on election? The Act of 1909 introduced the elective principle, with elected members in a minority. The Act of 1919 gave elected members a majority in the central legislature and created two chambers.

5. What did section 41 provide, and what came of it? That after ten years a commission should be appointed to inquire into the working of the system of government and to report whether and to what extent responsible government should be established, extended, modified or restricted. It is the basis of the Simon Commission of 1927, whose appointment without an Indian member produced the boycott and, eventually, the Act of 1935.