SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 5 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

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Under Pitt's India Act, what restriction was placed on the Governor General and Council?

(a)They could not pass any civil law without Queen’s consent.
(b)They could not issue orders without majority support.
(c)They were forbidden to declare war or make treaties without approval.
(d)They had to resign after 5 years in office.

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Pitt's India Act (1784) declared that schemes of conquest and extension of dominion in India were "repugnant to the wish, the honour and the policy of this nation".

So the Governor-General in Council was barred from declaring war or making treaties of war or guarantee with Indian rulers without express authority from London.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
They could not pass any civil law without Queen’s consent. — No such consent rule existed, and in 1784 Britain had a king, George III, not a queen. The Act's curb on the Governor-General in Council concerned war and treaties.
(b)
They could not issue orders without majority support. — Majority decision was not the 1784 curb. The council had decided by majority since the Regulating Act of 1773, when Warren Hastings was often outvoted. Pitt's Act cut the council to three members.
(d)
They had to resign after 5 years in office. — A fixed five-year term ending in resignation is not the restriction the Act is known for. Its curb on the Governor-General in Council was the ban on war and treaties without London's authority.

Concept

Pitt's India Act set up dual control of British India. A Board of Control in London, answerable to Parliament, was to "superintend, direct and control" the Company's civil, military and revenue affairs, while the Court of Directors kept its commerce.

In India, the Governor-General's council was cut to three members, and the Governor-General of Bengal was placed above the Madras and Bombay presidencies in matters of war, peace and diplomacy.

The war-and-treaty clause did not hold for long. Lord Wellesley, who arrived as Governor-General in 1798, abandoned that cautious policy and pursued conquest.

Key facts

Pitt's India Act of 1784 created the Board of Control in London.
It barred the Governor-General in Council from declaring war or making treaties of war or guarantee without authority from London.
It reduced the Governor-General's council to three members.
It placed the Madras and Bombay presidencies under the Governor-General of Bengal in war, peace and diplomacy.

Study next

Regulating Act of 1773 and its weaknessesAmending Act of 1786 and the Governor-General's power to override his councilCharter Acts of 1793, 1813 and 1833

Common traps

Picking the majority-support option because it sounds like a curb, though majority decision in council predates 1784.
Thinking the 1784 Act ended Company rule, which came only with the Government of India Act 1858.

The Act is asked from several angles: 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.9 asks which Act set up the Board of Control, and 15 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.5 asks what that Board did. Wellesley's conquests are keyed at 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.7.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: General Policy — all 308 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.