Administration of the East India Company

The administration of the East India Company refers to the system of governance, law, and revenue collection established by the British East India Company in The INDIAN subcontinent between 1757 and 1858. Following the Battle of Plassey, the Company transitioned from a purely commercial trading entity into a ruling power.

The British divided their territories into Administrative Units which were called Presidencies. Bombay, Madras, and Bengal were the 3 presidencies. Each presidency was ruled by a Governor assisted by a Council. The Supreme head of the administration was the Governor General. Warren Hastings was the first Governor General of India (1773-1785). He was one of the key figures in the expansion of the Company's power. He also brought AbOUT many administrative reforms, notably in the sphere of justice.

The territories held by the British were divided into various districts. These districts formed the basic unit of administration. The Collector collected the revenue and taxes, and maintained law and order in his district with the help of police officers and judges.

Civil Administration

The "Indian Civil Service" (ICS), as started by Lord Cornwallis in 1793. Earlier, the civil servants (officials who carried out day-to-day tasks at various administrative levels), were nominated by the Board of Directors of the Company. However, from 1853 onwards, a competitive written exam began to be held for selecting civil servants. It as difficult for Indians to get selected. The examination was held in London and very few Indians could afford the traveling cost. Also, the maximum age for completing the exam was very low and the medium of expression was English, which was a foreign language for Indians. The elder brother of Rabindranath Tagore, Satyendranath Tagore, was the first Indian to clear the ICS. Indians were only appointed to a lower or subordinate administrative post. All higher posts were reserved for the British only.

Lord Cornwallis also enacted the Cornwallis Code in 1793, on which the government of British India virtually rested until the Charter Act of 1833. This divided the East India Company's civil servants into 3 branches, namely Revenue, judicial, and commercial to PReVENT the abuse of power.

Army

Colonial Rule brought in new IDeaS of administration and reform. The army was an important instrument for defending, consolidating and expanding The British Rule in India and the neighboring areas. It was the base on which the power of the Company rested. The East India Company recruited a large number of Indian soldiers. Their army came to be known as the Sepoy Army (from the Persian word sipahi, which means soldier).

The Company army was well-trained and disciplined, according to the European Military standards. They received good salaries regularly, which made recruiting easier. GeneRally, the sepoys were loyal to the army; however, in order to develop professional soldiers, religious sentiments and caste hierarchies began to be ignored. The highest rank that an Indian sepoy could rise to was that of a subedar ( a military rank for a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Army, roughly equivalent to a Warrant Officer) The highest posts were reserved for the British officers, just like the civil service. These developed tensions which ultimately resulted in the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.

Police

Lord Cornwallis created a permanent police force in India. The districts were divided into Thanas (units of police jurisdiction) which were under the charge of darogas (officers). The villages and cities also appointed chowkidars and kotwals. This system was restructured many times as it was not proving to be effective enough. The District Superintendent supervised the administration of the police of a district. The police system was however popularly known for its corruption and oppression. Like the army and civil services, Indians could not get promoted to higher posts. Only the British could occupy high posts.

Judicial Administration

This system in India had no uniform code of law prior to the British. Steps were taken by Warren Hastings and Lord Cornwallis to institute a judicial system in India based on the colonial standards.

From 1772, a new system of Justise was established. Each district was to have 2 courts——a faujdari adalat (criminal court) and a diwani adalat (civil court). The maulvis and the pandits (prests) interpreted Indian laws for the European district collecters who were in charge of civil courts. The criminal courts were under qazi (judge) and a mufti (Muslim Jurist) but were under the supervision of the collecters.

The British Parliament passed the Regulating Act of 1773 and Pitt's India Act of 1784 to oversee how the company managed its lands and collected revenue. Under the "Regulating Act of 1773", the Supreme court was set up in Calcutta. An appeal court or the Sadar Nizamat Adalat was also set up there. Over a period of time, a hierarchy of courts was established. High Courts were set up in Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. At the lowest level were the subordinate courts which were headed by Indian judges. Indians were not allowed to rise to higher posts in the judicial services also.These acts established the office of the Governor-General and created a system of joint control between the Company and the British Crown. The Company's administrative rule came to an end following the Rebellion of 1857, after which the Government of India Act 1858 transferred all administrative powers directly to the British Crown, initiating the period of the British Raj.