Charter Act of 1793

Charter Act of 1793

The English East India Company was introducing a news Charter Act in the year 1793. The Act of 1793 is a very long one. It repealed many old laws and consolidated the existing ones. However, it did not make any alterations.

Provisions of charter Act of 1793

1. The Governor-General and the Governors were given the power to over-ride their Councils. The power had been given specially to Cornwallis in 1786.

2. The control of Governor General over the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay was emphasized. It was laid down that when the Governor-General went to a Presidency, he superseded the Governor.

3. Governor-General was given the power to appoint a Vice-President of his Executive Council from the members of the Council. The Vice-President was to act in place of the Governor-General when the latter was absent from Bengal.

4. The Commander-in-Chief was not to be a member of the Council of the Governor-General unless he was specially appointed to be a member by the Court of Directors.

5. No leave of absence out of India was to be allowed to the Governor-General, governors, the Commander-in-Chief and a few other high officials during their tenure of office.

6. The admiralty jurisdiction of the Calcutta Supreme Court was extended to the high seas.

7. Power was given to appoint members of the civil service as Justices of the Peace, to appoint scavengers for the Presidency towns, to levy a sanitary rate and to forbid the sale of liquor without a licence.

8. It was provided that the payment of the members and the staff of the Board of Control should be made out of the Indian revenues. This system continued up to 1919.

9. It was provided that the two junior members of the Board of Control need not be Privy Councillors.

10. The Act tried to regulate the finances of the Company. A particular amount was assumed to be the annual surplus of the Company. Out of the annual surplus, five lakhs of pounds were to go to liquidation of the debts of the Company and a similar amount was to be absorbed in increasing the dividend from 8% to 10%.

11. The Charter of the Company was renewed for 20 years. 3000 tons were allowed for private trade but this right was never exercised.

Milan Tomic

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