Council of State (India)


The Council of State was the upper house of the legislature for British India created by the Government of India Act 1919 from the old Imperial Legislative Council, implementing the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. The Central Legislative Assembly was the lower house.
As a result of Indian independence, the Council of State was dissolved on 14 August 1947 and its place taken by the Constituent Assembly of India and the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.
The Council of State used to meet at the Metcalfe House. The Viceroy or Governor-General was its ex officio President.

Composition

1919 to 1937

The Council of States was created by the Government of India Act 1919. As per this Act, the Council was to have 60 members. The composition was as follows:
  • Members nominated by the Governor-General
  • * Officials
  • * Non-officials, one of whom was nominated as the result of an election held in Berar.
  • Elected members from the provinces of British India:
  • * General : Madras, Bombay, Bengal, United Provinces, Punjab, Bihar & Orissa, Central Provinces, Burma, Assam
  • * Muslim : Madras, Bombay, Bengal, United Provinces, Punjab, Bihar & Orissa
  • * Chamber of Commerce : Bombay, Bengal, Burma
  • * Sikh
The province-wise composition was as follows:
  • Madras : General, Muslim
  • Bombay : General, Muslim, Bombay Chamber of Commerce
  • Bengal : General, Muslim, Bengal Chamber of Commerce
  • United Provinces : General, Muslim
  • Punjab : General, Muslim, Sikh
  • Bihar & Orissa : General, Muslim
  • Central Provinces : General
  • Burma : General, Burma Chamber of Commerce
  • Assam : General in rotation with Muslim
The Muslim seats of Punjab together with one General seat of Bihar and Orissa alternated to elect 2 seats for every Council of State.
The members had a tenure of 5 years. There were no women members.
The elected members were voted from an electorate consisting of persons who fulfilled either condition
  • Paid a certain sum as annual income tax or annual land revenue
  • Member of the Senate of any University
  • Experience in any Legislative Council in India or
  • Title-holder
This electorate consisted of not more than 17,000 of entire population of 24 crores in 1920.
Like the Legislative Assembly, the Council of State had no members elected to represent the princely states, as they were not part of British India. On 23 December 1919, when King-Emperor George V gave royal assent to the Government of India Act 1919, he also made a proclamation which created the Chamber of Princes, to provide a forum for the states to use to debate national questions and make their collective views known to the Government of India.

1937 to 1947

The Government of India Act 1935 introduced further reforms. The size of the Council of State was to be increased to 260 members, 156 from the provinces and 104 from the princely states. However, the first election to the federal legislature after that of 1934 was the 1945 Indian general election, in which the princely states continued to take no part.

Members of First Council of State (1921)

Nominated

Officials: General Lord RawlinsonNon-Officials: Sir Dinshaw Edulji Wacha, G. A. Natesan, Sir Leslie Creery Miller, Soshi Kanta Acharya of Mymensingh, Sir Mohamed Muzamilullah Khan of Bhikampur, Sir Amiruddeen Ahmed Khan of Loharu, Sardar Charanjit Singh, Harnam Singh, Sir Muhammad Rafique Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas

Elected

Members of Second Council of State (1926)

Nominated

Officials: Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, Sir Muhammad Habibullah, Satish Ranjan Das, Major General Sir Robert Charles MacWatt, David Thomas Chadwick, Arthur Cecil McWatters, James Crerar, Arthur Herbert Ley, John Perronet Thompson, James Alexander Richey, Sir Clement Hindley, Thomas Emerson, Kiran Chandra De, John Austen Hubback, D. Weston, Evelyn Robins Abbott, Sir Charles George Todhunter, H. A. B. Vernon, Dewan Tek Chand, A. Latifi, Pandit Shyam Bihari Misra, John Ernest Buttery Hotson, G. W. Hatch

Elected members

Members of Third Council of State (1930–1936)

Nominated

Government of India:

Elected members

  • Assam: Khan Bahadur Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhury, Zaminder Bhatipara Estate, founding member of All India Muslim League, active participant of Islamic Khelafat Andolon, philanthropist, legislator of Assam Legislative CouncilBengal: Jagadish Chandra Banerjee, Nripendra Narayan Sinha, Satyendra Chandra Ghose Maulik, Mahmood Suhrawardy, Syed Abdul Hafeez, George Campbell Bihar & Orissa: Babu Ramashray Prashad Choudhary of Dalshinghsarai, Hussain Imam
  • Bombay: Sardar Shri Jagannath Maharaj Pandit, Shantidas Askuran, Pheroze Sethna, Sir Suleman Cassum Haji Mitha, Ali Baksh Muhammad Hussain, R. H. Parker
  • Burma: J. B. Glass Central Provinces: V. V. Kalikar, Raja Laxmanrao Bhonsle
  • Madras: S. Rm. M. Annamalai Chettiar, Yarlagadda Ranganayakulu Naidu, V. C. Vellingiri Gounder, G. N. Chetty, Syed Muhammad Padshah Saheb Bahadur,
  • Punjab: Lala Ram Saran Das, Sardar Buta Singh, Chaudhri Muhammad Din
  • United Provinces: Lala Mathura Prasad Mehrotra, Lala Jagdish Prasad, Prakash Narain Sapru, Hafiz Muhammad Halim, Shaikh Mushir Hosain Kidwai

Fourth Council of State

Nominated

Officials: General Sir Claude Auchinleck, Sir Mohammad Usman, Jogendra Singh, Feroz Khan Noon, Sir Satyendranath Roy, C. E. Jones, E. Conran-Smith, G. S. Bozman, Shavax A. Lal, A de C. Williams, N. R. Pillai, Ernest Wood, B. R. Sen
  • Non-Officials: Sir David Devadoss, K. Ramunni Menon, Sir Josna Ghosal, Maneckji Dadabhoy, Raja Charanjit Singh, Shamsuddin Haidar, Brijlal Nandlal Biyani, A. P. Patro, Rahimtoola Chinoy, Satyendra Kumar Das, Sir Satya Charan Mukherjee, Sir Mohammad Yakub, Sardar Nihal Singh, Khurshid Ali Khan, Lt. Col. Sir S. Hissam-ud-din Bahadur, Sobha Singh, Sri Narain Mehta, Mohendra Lal Das,

Elected members

  • Assam: Khan Bahadur Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhury, Zaminder Bhatipara Estate, founding member of All India Muslim League, active participant of Islamic Khelafat Andolon, philanthropist, legislator of Assam Legislative CouncilBengal: Kumarsankar Ray Chaudhury, Kumar Nripendra Narayan Sinha, Susil Kumar Roy Chowdhury Bihar: Maharaja Kameshwar of Darbhanga, Babu Ramashray Prashad Choudhary of Dalshinghsarai, Hussain Imam
  • Bombay: Shantidas Askuran, Govindalal Shivlal Motilal, Maneckji Nadirshaw Dalal, Sir Suleman Cassum Haji Mitha, R. H. Parker Central Provinces: V. V. Kalikar
  • Madras: Rao Bahadur K. Govindachari, M. Ct. M. Chidambaram Chettyar, Narayandas Girdhardas, V. Ramadas Pantulu, Saiyad Mohamed Sahib Bahadur
  • Orissa: Nikunja Kishore Das,
  • Punjab: Lala Ram Saran Das, Chaudhri Ataullah Khan Tarar, Sardar Buta Singh
  • Sind: Ali Buksh Mohammad Hussain
  • United Provinces: H. N. Kunzru, Prakash Narain Sapru, Haji Syed Mohamed Husain, Chaudhri Niamatullah

Presidents