REVIEW OF THE WORK TRANSACTED BY THE SEVENTH TAMIL NADU LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 1980-84 CHAPTER I THE STATE LEGISLATURE-ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION When on the last day of 1600 Queen Elizebeth signed the Charter of the East India Company, no one in his wildest dreams could have imagined that she was laying the foundation for the acquisition of a mighty Empire. The constitutional doctrine that all acquisitions of sovereignty by a subject are and can be behalf of the Crown, has ever been part of the law of England and when after the battle of Plessey, the East India Company found themselves in possession of an Empire, though nominally as delegates of the Moghul Emperor, Parliament intervened with the Regulating Act. The Act of 1784 which followed established a dual system of control by the Company and a Parliamentary Board which survived till the direct assumption of Sovereignty by the Crown of England in 1858. To start with, the Presidencies were independent of each other, but the Regulating Act termed the Governor of Bengal as the Governor-General of Bengal and made him the Supreme Head of all the Presidencies. At the same time, the legislative power in the Presidencies was recognized. This state of things was however discontinued by Charter Act of 1833 which concentrated all legislative powers in the Governor-General in Council and deprived the local Governments of their power of independent legislation. The grave inconveniences resulting from such a system led to its reversal in the Indian Councils Act, 1u861. From then on wards, the power of the Provincial Legislatures has always been on the increase and under the Government of India Act, 1935, the provinces became co-equal in the Federal system. This can be considered as the culmination of the process started in 1861. The various developments can be briefly traced from the Charter Act of 1833. This Act for the first time provided the addition of a fourth member to the Governor-General in Council for the sole purpose of legislation. He was to be known as the Law Member. Neither his presence nor his concurrence was necessary for the passage of any Law. Act extinguished the independent legislative powers of the Governors-in-Council of Madras and other Presidencies and vested legislative powers solely in the Governor-General-in-Council. The laws passed by the Government of India were to be called Acts. Before 1833, the enactments of Bombay, Madras and Bengal were known as regulations. The presidency Governments, as they were 2 then called, were authorized merely to submit drafts or projects of any laws regulations deemed expedient or necessary to the Governor-General-in-Council. The Charter Act of 1833, which marked the next stage in the evolution of the legislatures, made the Law Member of the Governor General-in-Council, a full member. In all the Legislative Council in its legislative capacity consisted of 12 Members. Those were the Governor-General, commander-in-chief, four council Members and six Legislative Members. Out of these six members four were representatives of the provinces and the other two were the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Calcutta and a puisne judge. From 1833 to 1861, the Governor-General-in-Council was the sole administrative as well the legislative authority. The Indian Councils Act of 1861 constituted a great land mark in the growth and development of the legislatures. The Act for the first time associated with the Governor- General’s Executive Council, a small number of additional numbers half of them being non- officials, a provided for the addition of not less than six and not more than 12 nominated members to the Governor-general’s Council and the functions of the New legislative Council were limited wholly to legislation. The act also restored the legislative powers of the Council of the Governor of Madras which was enlarged for legislative purposes by the addition of the Advocate-General and of four to eight members nominated by the Governor. The consent of the Governor and the Governor-General was made necessary for all legislation passed or amended by the Governor of Madras and Bombay. The Act6 thus sowed the seed for the future legislature as an independent entity separate from the Executive Council. The Legislative Councils so established were however mere advisory Committees by means of which Government obtained advice and assistance in their work of legislation and the public derived the advantage of full publicity being ensured at every stage of the legislative process. The Councils were not deliberative bodies with respect to any subject but that of the immediate legislation before them. The next milestone in the evolution of the legislatures was reached when the Indian Councils Act of 1892 was passed by which the number of additional members of the Central legislature was increased but it was not to be less than ten and not more than sixteen in the case of the Supreme Council and not less than eight and not more than twenty in the case of Madras. Tow-fifths of the additional members were to be officials. Non Official Members were recommended by the district boards, universities, municipalities and other associations. This Act enlarged the functions of the council in two respects, namely, the council could 3 discuss the annual financial statement and ask questions subject to certain limitations. Members were to hold office for two years. The seed sown by the Act of 1861 was quickened into life by the Act of 1909, popularly known as Minto-Morley Reforms. The Act still further enlarged the legislative Council both of the Governor-General and of the Provinces. It introduced for the first time the method of election though not yet direct election, and thus helped to quicken into life the seed of representative institutions. It dispensed with officials majorities in the Provincial legislations. It dispensed with officials majorities in the Provincial legislative Councils and gave them power to move resolutions upon matters of general public interest and also upon the budget and to ask supplementary questions. The additional members of the Governor-General council were increased from 16 to a maximum of 60 and those of the Madras Council from 20 to a maximum of 50. Thus the Act carried constitutional development a step further. The Madras legislative Council consisted of 21 officials and 16 non-officials. The ex-Officio members were Governor, Advocate-General and 3 members of the Executive Council. 16 Officials were nominated by the Governor. Out of 26 non-officials 5 were nominated and only 21 were elected. The Government of India Act of 1919, which embodied the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms is but the natural and inevitable sequel to the long chapter of previous Parliamentary legislation on the introduction of Representative of the people. In the Centre however the principle of responsible Government was not introduced. The Central legislature thereafter called the Indian Legislature was reconstituted on enlarged and more representative character. This Act set up a bicameral legislature at the Centre. They State. The Council of State composed of sixty members of whom 33 members were elected and 27 were nominated by the Governor-General and the legislative Assembly composed of about 145 members, of whom about 103 were elected and the rest nominated. Of the nominated members about 25 were officials and the rest non-officials. The powers of both the Chambers of the Indian Legislature were identical except that the power to vote supply was granted only to the legislative assembly. For the Madras Presidency the number of Elected members was 98, number of nominated non-official member of elected members was 98, number of nominated non-official members was 10 and the number of members of Executive Council (Ex. Officio) and 4 maximum number of nominated officials was 19. The most important feature of the Act was the introduction of the system of diarchy in the Provinces. Subject were classified as Central and Provincial and in regard to Provincial matters a further division was made into “transferred subjects” administered by the Governor and his ministers responsible to the legislative Council and “reserved subjects” administered by the Governor and his Execute Council. The Governo9r could override both the Ministers of the Provincial legislative Council was raised to over 70 per cent. The legislative power of the Council extended to Provincial matters only. Everyway of the Provincial legislature for its validity required the assent of Governor-General as well as the Governor. The first independent legislative body known as the Madras legislative Council was set up in 1921. It met for the first time on the 8th January, 1921 at Fort St. George, Madras. The Council was inaugurated by the Duke of Connaught, on 12th January, 1921 on the request made by the Governor Lord Wellington. The Governor addressed the Council on 14th February 1921. The duration of the Council was for three years. The second and third councils under this Act were constituted after general elections were held in1923 and 1926 respectively. The Forth legislative Council met for the first time on the 6th November, 1930 after the general elections held during that year and its life was extended from time to time and it lasted till the provincial autonomy under the Government of India Act, 1935 came into operation. The following were the Chairmen from 1920to 1937 1. Thiru P. Rajagopala Achariyar .. .. 1920-23 2. Thiru L.D. Swamikkannu Pillai .. .. .. 1924-25 3. Prof. M. Ruthnasamy .. .. .. .. 1925-26 4. Thiru C.V.S. Narasimha Raju .. .. .. 1926-30 5. Thiru B. Ramachandra Reddy .. .. .. 1930-37 The Government of India Act, 1935, marked the next great stride in the evolution of the legislatures.