THE IMPACT OF INDIAN COUNCIL ACT 1892 ON INDIAN CONSTITUTION

The Act of 1892 provided that the Dumber of Additional Members nominated to the Supreme Legislative Council by the Governor-General should not be less than ten and more than sixteen. The Governor- General in Council with the approval of the Secretary of State in Council was authorized to make regulations. Under the regulations duly framed, not more than ten out of the sixteen Additional Members were nominated from amongst the nonof cials, the obvious purpose being to retain the majority of the ofcials in the Council. Five of these non-ofcials were nominated by the Governor General directly, four on the recommendation "of the non-ofcial members of the Provincial Councils, and one on the recommendation of the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce. During 1892-1909, when the Indian Councils Act, 1892, was in operation, some of the prominent Congress leaders were members of the Supreme Legislative Council Pherozeshah Mehta, G.K. Gokhale etc.