The Act for Better Government of India, 1858

The 1857 revolt had exposed the Company’s limitations in administering under a complex situation. Till then, there had not been much accountability. The 1858 Act sought to rectify this anomaly—

● India was to be governed by and in the name of the Crown through a secretary of state and a council of 15. The initiative and the final decision was to be with the secretary of state and the council was to be just advisory in nature. (Thus, the dual system introduced by the Pitt’s India Act came to an end.)

● Governor-general became the viceroy (his prestige, if not authority, increased).

The assumption of power by the Crown was one of formality rather than substance. It gave a decent burial to an already dead horse—the Company’s administration.