CDS (II) 2023 General Knowledge · Question 20 of 120

Correct — B, Act of 1947 laid down the basic framework of the Indian Constitution. That is the statement which is not correct, and it is not correct because the framework came from a different Act. The Indian Independence Act, 1947 was a transfer-of-power statute: it created two Dominions, partitioned Bengal and Punjab, ended British paramountcy over the princely states, and abolished the office of the Secretary of State for India. What it did not do was supply a scheme of government. For that it simply carried forward the Government of India Act, 1935, which was to continue to govern each Dominion, with adaptations, until its own Constituent Assembly produced a constitution — and it is the 1935 Act, with its federal structure, its three legislative lists, its Federal Court and its provincial autonomy, that the Constitution of 1950 drew on so heavily. The other three statements are accurate. The Bill was introduced in Parliament on 4 July 1947 and received the Royal Assent on 18 July 1947; the Act established the two independent Dominions of India and Pakistan from 15 August 1947; and it gave each Constituent Assembly unrestricted power to frame and adopt any constitution it chose, including the power to repeal British statutes extending to that Dominion.

• (a)The Bill for the Indian Independence Act was introduced in Parliament on July 4 and received the Royal Assent on July 18, 1947. — This is correct, so it cannot answer a 'not correct' stem. The Bill went through both Houses at extraordinary speed in the second week of July and the Royal Assent is firmly dated to 18 July 1947 — a bare four weeks before the transfer of power.
• (c)The Act provided for the establishment of two independent Dominions to be known as India and Pakistan. — Also correct, and it is the Act's central provision. The long title itself speaks of setting up in India two independent Dominions, with effect from 15 August 1947.
• (d)The Act empowered the Constituent Assembly of each Dominion to have unlimited power to frame and adopt any constitution. — Correct as well. Each Constituent Assembly became a full sovereign legislature for its Dominion and was free to frame whatever constitution it wished, and to repeal or amend British statutes applying to it — which is exactly how India later repealed this very Act.

The 1947 Act gave legal effect to the Mountbatten or 3 June Plan. Its main provisions were the creation of two Dominions from 15 August 1947; the partition of Bengal and Punjab with a boundary commission to draw the lines; a Governor-General for each Dominion, the same person being permitted to serve both; complete legislative authority for each Constituent Assembly; the lapse of Crown suzerainty over the princely states along with all treaties and obligations; the abolition of the office of Secretary of State for India; and the dropping of the title Emperor of India from the royal style. Until new constitutions were made, both Dominions were to be governed under the Government of India Act, 1935 as adapted. India's Constitution repealed the Act through Article 395 when it came into force on 26 January 1950.

Negative stems reward elimination, and here three of the four options are so plainly true that the odd one out stands up on its own. The distinction being tested is one worth carrying into the whole Modern History and Polity syllabus — 1935 is the framework Act, 1947 is the transfer-of-power Act. The Government of India Act, 1935 introduced provincial autonomy, a federal scheme with three lists, a Federal Court and the Reserve Bank, and large parts of it were carried straight into the Constitution. The 1947 Act, by contrast, is short and procedural; its work was to divide, to hand over and to get out of the way. A useful confirmation is that the Constituent Assembly of India had already been sitting since December 1946, before the 1947 Act existed — an Act cannot have laid the framework for a constitution that was being drafted before it was passed.

• The Indian Independence Act, 1947 received the Royal Assent on 18 July 1947 and took effect on 15 August 1947.
• It created two Dominions, India and Pakistan, partitioned Bengal and Punjab, and provided a boundary commission to fix the lines.
• It ended British suzerainty over the princely states, with all treaties and obligations lapsing, and abolished the office of Secretary of State for India.
• Until each Dominion framed its own constitution, both were to be governed under the Government of India Act, 1935 as adapted — India until 1950, Pakistan until 1956.
• The Constitution of India repealed the Act by Article 395 when it came into force on 26 January 1950.

• Crediting the 1947 Act with the constitutional framework, which belongs to the 1935 Act.
• Assuming the Act made India a republic; it made India a Dominion, and the republic came only on 26 January 1950.
• Forgetting that the lapse of paramountcy left the princely states legally free, which is what made integration a separate and urgent task.

As a 'which statement is not correct' item on a named Act, or as a match between an Act and the feature it introduced.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Indian Independence Act, 1947, until each Dominion framed its own constitution, it was to be governed in accordance with

  • (a)the Government of India Act, 1919
  • (b)the Government of India Act, 1935, as adapted
  • (c)the Indian Councils Act, 1909
  • (d)the Regulating Act, 1773

  Answer(b) the Government of India Act, 1935, as adapted — India was governed under it until 26 January 1950 and Pakistan until 1956.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Article of the Constitution of India repealed the Indian Independence Act, 1947?

  • (a)Article 368
  • (b)Article 370
  • (c)Article 395
  • (d)Article 393

  Answer(c) Article 395 — the final Article of the Constitution, which repealed the Indian Independence Act, 1947 and the Government of India Act, 1935 along with the enactments amending them.