SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 22 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 12 of 98

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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SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Under which Act was a Law Commission first established in India to codify and consolidate Indian laws?

(a)Government of India Act, 1858
(b)Indian Councils Act, 1861
(c)Regulating Act, 1773
(d)Charter Act, 1833

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The Charter Act, 1833 introduced the first Law Commission of India, set up in 1834 with Lord Macaulay as chairman to codify and systematise Indian laws.

Its work eventually produced the Indian Penal Code of 1860. The same Act made the Governor-General of Bengal the Governor-General of India, Lord William Bentinck being the first → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Government of India Act, 1858 — The Government of India Act, 1858 moved power from the Company to the Crown after the Revolt of 1857. By then the first Law Commission was 24 years old.
(b)
Indian Councils Act, 1861 — 1861 is too late: the first Law Commission dates from 1834. The Indian Councils Act, 1861 instead restored the legislative powers of Bombay and Madras.
(c)
Regulating Act, 1773 — The Regulating Act, 1773 was the first attempt to regulate the Company. It created the Governor-General of Bengal and a Supreme Court at Calcutta, but no Law Commission.

Concept

The Charter Acts of 1793, 1813, 1833 and 1853 renewed the East India Company's charter.

The 1833 Act ended the Company's commercial activities, leaving it a purely administrative body. It centralised law-making in the Governor-General in Council, taking away the separate legislative powers of Bombay and Madras.

Alongside it came the first Law Commission, set up in 1834 under Macaulay to codify and systematise Indian laws.

Key facts

The first Law Commission was set up in 1834 under the Charter Act 1833, with Lord Macaulay as chairman.
Its codification work eventually produced the Indian Penal Code of 1860.
The Charter Act 1833 made the Governor-General of Bengal the Governor-General of India, first held by Lord William Bentinck.
The first Law Commission of independent India was set up in 1955.

Study next

The Charter Acts of 1813, 1833 and 1853 comparedMacaulay: the first Law Commission and the 1835 Minute on educationThe Law Commission of India today and the 23rd Commission

Common traps

Picking the Government of India Act, 1858 as the big turning point — the Law Commission came 24 years earlier.
Confusing the first Law Commission (1834) with the first Law Commission of independent India (1955).

Here an institution is asked by the Act that created it. The same run of Acts appears at 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.12, where the Charter Act of 1833 is a decoy and the Government of India Act 1858 is keyed, and at 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.19 on Pitt's India Act.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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