EPFO EO/AO 2023 General Ability Test · Question 21 of 120

Correct — D, (d) The Governor-General-in-Council was authorized to appoint successors to Bombay and Madras Presidencies. The booklet prints the 'not' in bold italic: the item asks for the one thing the Regulating Act, 1773 did NOT do. The Act named the first Governor-General (Warren Hastings) and the four members of his Council in the text of the Act itself, and left every later appointment — to Bengal and to the subordinate presidencies alike — with the Court of Directors of the East India Company, whose choices the Crown could disapprove. What Calcutta received over Bombay and Madras was superintendence and control in matters of war and peace, not patronage. The Governors of Bombay and Madras went on being appointed from London. Option (d) therefore describes a power of appointment that the 1773 Act never conferred on the Governor-General-in-Council, while the other three are textbook provisions of it.

• (a)It made the Presidency of Bengal supreme over those of Bombay and Madras in matters relating to war and peace. — This WAS provided, so it cannot be the answer to a 'not provided' stem. The Act subordinated Bombay and Madras to the Governor-General-in-Council of Bengal: they could not declare war, make treaties or conduct hostilities without Calcutta's prior consent, except in a sudden emergency or where they were acting on direct orders received from the Court of Directors. This is the first step in the long march from three independent presidencies to one central government in India.
• (b)The tenure of the Governor-General and his Councillors was fixed as five years. — This WAS provided. The Act created a Governor-General of Bengal assisted by an Executive Council of four, holding office for five years, and made them removable by the Crown on the representation of the Court of Directors. The Governor-General had no veto — he was one vote in a body of five and could be, and was, outvoted by his Council, which is the structural weakness that Pitt's India Act, 1784 and the Act of 1786 later had to repair.
• (c)The Supreme Court of Justice was established at Calcutta. — This WAS provided. The Act empowered the Crown to establish a Supreme Court at Calcutta, and it was set up in 1774 by a Royal Charter with one Chief Justice (Sir Elijah Impey) and three other judges. The two-year gap between the Act and the charter is the only thing that makes this option look doubtful, and it is not enough to make it the odd one out — the Act plainly provided for the court.

The Regulating Act, 1773 is the first time the British Parliament legislated on how the East India Company governed its Indian territories. Its logic runs in three directions at once: it centralised (Bengal placed over Bombay and Madras), it created machinery (a Governor-General with a four-member Council, and a Supreme Court at Calcutta), and it imposed accountability (the Court of Directors made to report its revenue, civil and military correspondence to the British Government, and Company servants forbidden private trade and the taking of presents from Indians). Every constitutional-development question about 1773 tests one of those three strands. What the Act conspicuously did not do was hand the Company's Indian officers control over their own succession: appointments stayed with the Directors in London, subject to Crown disapproval.

EPFO EO/AO Part B opens with a five-question block on modern Indian history, and constitutional development from 1773 to 1935 is its most predictable content because the material is finite and list-shaped. The habit this item rewards is reading the emphasised 'not' before reading the options — three of the four here are true statements, and a candidate who starts hunting for the true one is answering a question the paper did not ask.

• Regulating Act, 1773 — the first Parliamentary statute regulating the East India Company's government in India; it followed the Company's financial collapse and its appeal for a loan.
• It designated the Governor of Bengal as Governor-General of Bengal, with an Executive Council of four; Warren Hastings was the first, named in the Act.
• Tenure of the Governor-General and Councillors: five years, removable by the Crown on the representation of the Court of Directors.
• Bombay and Madras were made subordinate to Bengal in matters of war and peace, with an exception for sudden emergencies and for direct orders from the Court of Directors.
• A Supreme Court was provided for at Calcutta and established in 1774 by Royal Charter — one Chief Justice and three other judges.
• The Act barred Company servants from private trade and from accepting presents or bribes from Indians.
• It required the Court of Directors to report to the British Government on revenue, civil and military affairs in India.
• Later appointments to all three presidencies remained with the Court of Directors, not with the Governor-General-in-Council — which is why option (d) is false.

• Confusing supervisory control over war and peace with a power of appointment — the 1773 Act gave Calcutta the first and not the second.
• Assuming the 1773 Act created a Governor-General of India. It created a Governor-General of BENGAL; the Indian title arrives with the Charter Act of 1833.
• Reading 'Supreme Court established at Calcutta' as a wrong option because the court actually opened in 1774 — the Act provided for it, which is what the stem asks.
• Skipping the bold-italic 'not' and picking the first true statement you recognise.

EPFO EO/AO history items on constitutional development are usually single-statement recall or a four-option 'which is not a feature' set on one named Act. The Act is always named in the stem, so the whole task is to hold the feature-list of that one statute apart from the statute before and after it.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Regulating Act of 1773, the appointment of the Governor-General of Bengal and the members of his Council after the first incumbents was to be made by :

  • (a)The Governor-General-in-Council at Calcutta
  • (b)The Court of Directors of the East India Company
  • (c)The British Parliament by resolution
  • (d)The Governors of Bombay and Madras jointly

  Answer(b) The Court of Directors of the East India Company

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched ?

  • (a)Regulating Act, 1773 — Board of Control established
  • (b)Regulating Act, 1773 — Supreme Court provided for at Calcutta
  • (c)Regulating Act, 1773 — Governor-General of India created
  • (d)Regulating Act, 1773 — Company's trade monopoly with China ended

  Answer(b) Regulating Act, 1773 — Supreme Court provided for at Calcutta