Government of India Act 1935

General Provisions.

303 Provisions as to Sheriff of Calcutta.

(1) The Sheriff of Calcutta shall be appointed annually by the Governor of Bengal from a panel of three persons to be nominated on the occasion of each vacancy by the High Court in Calcutta.

(2) The Sheriff shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor and shall be entitled to such remuneration as the Governor may determine and no other remuneration.

(3) In exercising his powers with respect to the appointment and dismissal of the Sheriff, and with respect to the determination of his remuneration, the Governor shall exercise his individual judgment.

304 Persons acting as Governor-General or Governor.

Any person appointed by His Majesty to act as Governor-General or as the Governor of a Province during the absence of the Governor-General or the Governor from India, or during any period during which the Governor-General or the Governor is for any reason unable to perform the duties of his office, shall during, and in respect of, the period while he is so acting have all the powers and immunities, and be subject to all the duties of, the Governor-General or Governor, as the case may be, and, if he holds any other office, shall not act therein or be entitled to the salary and allowances appertaining thereto while he is acting as Governor-General or Governor.

305 Secretarial staffs of Governor-General and Governor.

(1) The Governor-General and every Governor shall have his own secretarial staff to be appointed by him in his discretion.

(2) The salaries and allowances of persons so appointed and the office accommodation and other facilities to be provided for them shall be such as the Governor-General or, as the case may be, the Governor may in his discretion determine, and the said salaries and allowances and the expenses incurred in providing the said accommodation and facilities shall be charged on the revenues of the Federation or, as the case may be, the Province.

306 Protection of Governor-General, Governor or Secretary of State.

(1) No proceedings whatsoever shall lie in, and no process whatsoever shall issue from, any court in India against the Governor-General, against the Governor of a Province, or against the Secretary of State, whether in a personal capacity or otherwise, and, except with the sanction of His Majesty in Council, no proceedings whatsoever shall lie in any court in India against any person who has been the Governor-General, the Governor of a Province, or the Secretary of State in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by any of them during his term of office in performance or purported performance of the duties thereof:

Provided that nothing in this section shall be construed as restricting the right of any person to bring against the Federation, a Province, or the Secretary of State such proceedings as are mentioned in chapter in of Part VII of this Act.

(2) The provisions of the preceding subsection shall apply in relation to His Majesty's Representative for the exercise of the functions of the Crown in its relations with Indian States as they apply in relation to the Governor-General.

307 Removal of certain disqualifications on the occasion of the first elections to Legislature.

For the purposes of the first elections of persons to serve as members of the Federal Legislature and of Provincial Legislatures, no person shall be subject to any disqualification by reason only of the fact that he holds—

(a) an office of profit as a non-official member of the Executive Council of the Governor-General or a Governor, or as a minister in a Province;

(b) an office which is not a whole time office remunerated either by salary or by fees.

308 Procedure as respects proposals for amendment of certain provisions of Act and Orders in Council.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, if the Federal Legislature or any Provincial Legislature, on motions proposed in each Chamber by a minister on behalf of the council of ministers, pass a resolution recommending any such amendment of this Act or of an Order in Council made thereunder as is hereinafter mentioned, and on motions proposed in like manner, present to the Governor-General or, as the case may be, to the Governor an address for submission to Has Majesty praying that His Majesty may be pleased to communicate the resolution to Parliament, the Secretary of State shall, within six months after the resolution is so communicated, cause to be laid before both Houses of Parliament a statement of any action which it may be proposed to take thereon.

The Governor-General or the Governor, as the case may be, when forwarding any such resolution and address to the Secretary of State shall transmit therewith a statement of his opinion as to the proposed amendment and, in particular, as to the effect which it would have on the interests of any minority, together with a report as to the views of any minority likely to be affected by the proposed amendment and as to whether a majority of the representatives of that minority in the Federal or, as the case may be, the Provincial Legislature support the proposal, and the Secretary of State shall cause such statement and report to be laid before Parliament.

In performing his duties under this subsection the Governor-General or the Governor, as the case may be, shall act in his discretion.

(2) The amendments referred to in the preceding subsection are—

(a) any amendment of the provisions relating to the size or composition of the Chambers of the Federal Legislature, or to the method of choosing or the qualifications of members of that Legislature, not being an amendment which would vary the proportion between the number of seats in the Council of State and the number of seats in the Federal Assembly, or would vary, either as regards the Council of State or the Federal Assembly, the proportion between the number of seats allotted to British India and the number of seats allotted to Indian States;

(b) any amendment of the provisions relating to the number of Chambers in a Provincial Legislature or the size or composition of the Chamber, or of either Chamber, of a Provincial Legislature, or to the method of choosing or the qualifications of members of a Provincial Legislature;

(c) any amendment providing that, in the case of women, literacy shall be substituted for any higher educational standard for the time being required as a qualification for the franchise, or providing that women, if duly qualified, shall be entered on electoral rolls without any application being made for the purpose by them or on their behalf; and

(d) any other amendment of the provisions relating to the qualifications entitling persons to be registered as voters for the purposes of elections.

(3) So far as regards any such amendment as is mentioned in paragraph (c) of the last preceding subsection, the provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall apply to a resolution of a Provincial Legislature whenever passed, but, save as aforesaid, those provisions shall not apply to any resolution passed before the expiration of ten years, in the case of a resolution of the Federal Legislature, from the establishment of the Federation, and, in the case of a resolution of a Provincial Legislature, from the commencement of Part III of this Act.

(4) His Majesty in Council may at any time before or after the commencement of Part III of this Act, whether the ten years referred to in the last preceding subsection have elapsed or not, and whether any such address as is mentioned in this section has been submitted to His Majesty or not, make in the provisions of this Act any such amendment as is referred to in subsection (2) of this section :

Provided that—

(i) if no such address has been submitted to His Majesty, then, before the draft of any Order which it is proposed to submit to His Majesty is laid before Parliament, the Secretary of State shall, unless it appears to him that the proposed amendment is of a minor or drafting nature, take such steps as His Majesty may direct for ascertaining the views of the Governments and Legislatures in India who would be affected by the proposed amendment and the views of any minority likely to be so affected, and whether a majority of the representatives of that minority in the Federal or, as the case may be, the Provincial Legislature support the proposal;

(ii) the provisions of Part II of the First Schedule to this Act shall not be amended without the consent of the Ruler of any State which will be affected by the amendment.

309 Orders in Council.

(1) Any power conferred by this Act on His Majesty in Council shall be exercisable only by Order in Council, and subject as hereinafter provided, the Secretary of State shall lay before Parliament the draft of any Order which it is proposed to recommend His Majesty to make in Council under any provision of this Act, and no further proceedings shall be taken in relation thereto except in pursuance of an address presented to His Majesty by both Houses of Parliament praying that the Order may be made either in the form of the draft, or with such amendments as may have been agreed to by resolutions of both Houses :

Provided that, if at any time when Parliament is dissolved or prorogued, or when both Houses of Parliament are adjourned for more than fourteen days, the Secretary of State is of opinion that on account of urgency an Order in Council should be made under this Act forthwith, it shall not be necessary for a draft of the Order to be laid before Parliament, but the Order shall cease to have effect at the expiration of twenty-eight days from the date on which the Commons House first sits after the making of the Order unless within that period resolutions approving the making of the Order are passed by both Houses of Parliament.

(2) Subject to any express provision of this Act, His Majesty in Council may by a subsequent Order, made in accordance with the provisions of the preceding subsection, revoke or vary any Order previously made by him in Council under this Act.

(3) Nothing in this section applies to any Order of His Majesty in Council made in connection with any appeal to His Majesty in Council, or to any Order of His Majesty in Council sanctioning the taking of proceedings against a person who has been the Governor-General, His Majesty's Representative for the exercise of the functions of the Crown in its relations with Indian States, the Governor of a Province or the Secretary of State.

310 Power of His Majesty in Council to remove difficulties.

(1) Whereas difficulties may arise in relation to the transition from the provisions of the Government of India Act to the provisions of this Act, and in relation to the transition from the provisions of Part XIII of this Act to the provisions of Part II of this Act:

And whereas the nature of those difficulties, and of the provision which should be made for meeting them, cannot at the date of the passing of this Act be fully foreseen:

Now therefore, for the purpose of facilitating each of the said transitions His Majesty may by Order in Council—

(a) direct that this Act and any provisions of the Government of India Act still in force shall, during such limited period as may be specified in the Order, have effect subject to such adaptations and modifications as may be so specified;

(b) make, with respect to a limited period so specified such temporary provision as he thinks fit for ensuring that, while the transition is being effected and during the period immediately following it, there are available to all governments in India and Burma sufficient revenues to enable the business of those governments to be carried on; and

(c) make such other temporary provisions for the purpose of removing any such difficulties as aforesaid as may be specified in the Order.

(2) No Order in Council in relation to the transition from the provisions of Part XIII of this Act to the provisions of Part II of this Act shall be made under this section after the expiration of six months from the establishment of the Federation, and no other Order in Council shall be made under this section after the expiration of six months from the commencement of Part III of this Act.