Which of the following is/are correct regarding the Charter Act of 1853?

Question

Which of the following is/are correct regarding the Charter Act of 1853?

i. The Act provided that the salaries of the members of the Board of Control, its Secretary and other officials would be fixed by the East India Company and paid by the British government

ii. The number of members of the Court of Directors reduced from 24 to 18

iii. 6 of the Court of Directors were to be nominated by the Crown

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

1. A. i & ii only
2. B. i & iii only
3. C. ii & iii only (Correct answer)
4. D. i, ii & iii only

Correct Answer

Option C — ii & iii only

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is ii & iii only.

Key Points

• Statement i is incorrect because it reverses the arrangement. Under the Charter Act of 1853, the salaries of the members of the Board of Control, its secretary and officers were fixed by the British government but paid by the East India Company. The statement states the opposite.
• Statement ii is correct. The number of members of the Court of Directors was reduced from 24 to 18.
• Statement iii is correct. Of those 18, six were to be nominated by the Crown, the rest elected by the Court of Proprietors.

Additional Information

• The Charter Act of 1853 was the last of the Charter Acts. Its most important provisions were:
  • Separated the legislative and executive functions of the Governor-General's Council for the first time, adding six new legislative members — creating what functioned as a small Indian (Central) Legislative Council.
  • Introduced open competition for the Indian Civil Service, ending the Directors' patronage. The Macaulay Committee (1854) was appointed to give effect to it, and Satyendranath Tagore became the first Indian to qualify, in 1863.
  • Did not specify a period for which the Company's rule was extended — an implicit signal that Company rule could be ended at any time, as it duly was in 1858.
  • Provided local representation in the Central Legislative Council, with four members appointed by the provincial governments of Madras, Bombay, Bengal and Agra.
• The sequence of Charter Acts: 1793, 1813 (ended the Company's Indian trade monopoly, allowed missionaries, set aside ₹1 lakh for education), 1833 (made the Governor-General of Bengal the Governor-General of India — Lord William Bentinck the first — and ended the Company's commercial activities), and 1853.