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In 1871, however, serious difficulties arose in Santhalia, and it was felt that the pergunnahs really required a peculiar and simpler form of administration than the rest of Bengal. The Lieutenant-Governor recommended that they should be deregulationized and brought within the scope of the Act 33 Vic., Cap. 3. This measure received the assent of the Governor-General and the Secretary of State, and a special regulation for the peace and good Government of the pergunnahs, under which they were entirely deregulationized and administered more in accordance with simplicity and former times, was sanctioned.

TRIBUTARY MEHALS OF CUTTACK.

The Tributary Mehals of Cuttack were exempted from the operation of the Regulations by Sections 36, 13, and 11 of Regulations XII, XIII, and XIV of 1805. This exemption was recognized on the ground of expediency only, and it was held that there was nothing in the nature of the connection with the proprietors that would preclude their being brought under the ordinary jurisdiction of the courts if it should ever be thought advisable.

The office of Superintendent was established in 1814, and he was directed to endeavour to establish such control over the conduct of the zemindars as might prevent the commission of crimes and outrages.

Regulation XI of 1816 appears to be the only law by which the Superintendent was invested with any judicial authority, and by that law claims to inheritance and succession among the Rajahs are disposed of.

In 1821 the Government ruled that the interference of the Superintendent should be chiefly confined to matters of a political nature, to the suppression of feuds and animosities prevailing between the Rajahs of adjoining mehals, or between the members of their families, o. between the Rajahs and their subordinate feudatories, to the correction of systematic oppression and cruelty practised by any of the Rajahs or by their officers towards the inhabitants, to the cognizance of any apparent gross violation by them of their duties of allegiance and subordination, and generally to important points which, if not attended to, might lead to violent and general outrage and confusion, or to contempt of the paramount authority of the British Government.

The Penal Code was declared applicable to the Tributary States by an order of the Government of India dated the 18th December 1860.

Under orders of the Government of Bengal dated the 11th March 1863, the criminal authorities were directed to be guided in their proceedings as closely as possible by the spirit of the Criminal Procedure Code. Section 13 of Regulation XIII of 1805 is still in force.

In the estates under the direct management of Government, viz. Bankee and Ungool, the Civil and Criminal Procedure Codes, as well as Act V of 1861, are in force.

GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL.

The separation of the Government of Bengal from the Government of India and the North-Western Provinces has been already noticed in the course of this narrative, but it will be convenient to recite here more exactly the origin of the present Government.

The Bengal Presidency was divided into two portions by Act of

The constitution, origin, and extent of the Lieutenant-Governor's authority.

Sub-division of Bengal Presidency, 1834. General of Bengal (created by

Parliament in 1834, the titles selected being "Fort William in Bengal" and "Agra." Agra was to be placed under a separate Governor, but the Governorthis same Statute Governor-General of India) was declared to be the Governor Governor of Agra. Governor-General appointed Governor of Fort William in Bengal. It was left of Bengal. optional with the Court of Directors either to appoint a Council to assist the newly-created Governor, or to leave the executive government to be administered by such Governor alone, and the Governors or Governors in Council were to "have all the rights, powers, duties, functions, immunities whatsoever, not in any wise repugnant to this Act, which the Governors of Fort St. George and Bombay in their respective Councils now have in their respective presidencies."

The Governor-General was also empowered to appoint a Deputy Governor from among the ordinary Deputy Governor of Bengal. members of his Council, who would be invested with all the powers and perform all the duties of the Government during his absence.

In 1835 another Act was passed which declared that whereas much difficulty had arisen in dividing Bengal into two presidencies, "and the same would be attended with a large increase of charge," the Court of Directors might suspend the execution of so much of the aid Act.

By Section 2 the Governor-General in Council was authorized to "appoint a Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, now under the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, and from time to time declare and limit the extent of the territories so placed under such Lieutenant-Governor, and the extent of the authority to be exercised by such Lieutenant-Governor."

Western Provinces-1836.

This power of suspension was exercised, and the formal division of the Bengal Presidency into two Lieutenant-Governor of the North- separate and distinct presidencies, once arrested, has never been again carried out. On the 29th February 1836 the first Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces was appointed "with the same powers as have heretofore been exercised by the Government of Agra."

Bengal remained under the Governor-General as Governor, his place during his occasional absence Appointment of Lieutenant-Governor being supplied by a Deputy Governor of Bengal-1854. appointed from among the members of his Council, till 16 and 17 Vic., Cap. 95, was passed. Section 15 of that Act continued the power vested in the Directors to make Agra a separate presidency or leave it under a Lieutenant-Governor, and Section 16 empowered them also to declare " that the Governor-General of India shall not be Governor of the presidency of Fort William in Bengal, but that a separate Governor shall be appointed, and until such Governor be appointed the Directors may authorize the GovernorGeneral in Council to appoint any servant of the said Company who

shall have been ten years in their service in India to the office of Lieutenant-Governor, * * and to declare and limit the extent of the authority of the Lieutenant-Governor to be so appointed." The appointment by 21 and 22 Vic., Cap. 106, Section 29, is now made subject to the approbation of Her Majesty.

On the 12th October 1853 the Court of Directors authorized the appointment of a Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and in Home Department Resolution No. 415 of 28th April following, the Hon'ble F. J. Halliday was appointed first Lieutenant-Governor.

Paragraph 7 of this resolution fixed the territorial jurisdiction of the Lieutenant-Governor, which was Territorial jurisdiction. to be "co-extensive with the jurisdiction which has heretofore been exercised by the Governor of Bengal, with the exception of the Tenasserim provinces, which, like the adjoining province of Pegu, shall be placed directly under the GovernorGeneral in Council,"

Paragraph 8 fixed the extent of his authority. It was to "correspond in all respects with the Extent of authority. authority that has been exercised by

the Lieutenant-Governors of the North-Western Provinces."

Practically the Lieutenant-Governor exercises the same powers in civil matters as the Governors in Council of Madras or Bombay, though subject in some respects to somewhat closer supervision by the Supreme Government.

FORM OF ADMINISTRATION.

THE province is divided into what used to be called Regulation and

system. Regulation

Administrative and Non-Regulation districts.

Non-Regulation districts; but in fact most of the Non-Regulation Provinces are now subject to all modern laws, and practically differ only in this that the same officers administer both civil and criminal justice, there being no regular separate establishment of Civil Courts as in the Regulation Provinces.

There is this further distinction, that the appointments in these provinces are not reserved for the Civil Service and Military Officers, and uncovenanted servants are appointed to them at the discretion of the Government.

There are, however, a good many tracts which are still administered under a peculiar system. They may be divided into

(1) Newly acquired territory to which the general regulations have never been extended; such as the Khasi and Jynteah, the Naga and Garo Hills, the Kolhan of the Western Hills, and the Bhutan Dooars states.

(2) Tracts of country inhabited by primitive races specially exempted from the operation of the Regulations to whom a less formal code of law is better adapted. Under this head are some outlying tracts of Assam, parts of the Garo Hills, the Sonthal Pergunnahs, the Hill Tracts of Chittagong, and the Tributary Mehals of Cuttack.

(3) Semi-independent or tributary estates administered or partly administered by British Officers, e.g., the Tributary Mehals of Chota Nagpore and Cooch Behar. Special Regulations and Acts give the Lieutenant-Governor a very wide power of making rules for these territories and exempt them from the operation of the general law.

Calcutta.

The capital of the province, Calcutta, has, like the other Presidency towns, a special organization of its own. In civil suits above a certain limit, as well as in all Sessions trials, it is under the original jurisdiction of a branch of the High Court, in which only English and

Irish Barristers and Scotch Advocates can practice. The Small Cause Court of Calcutta is of purely local jurisdiction, and is regulated by a special Act. A separate establishment of Police is under the control of a Commissioner. Criminal justice is administered by two stipendiary Magistrates of Police. In revenue matters also the city forms part of no district, though it is subordinate to the Commissioner of the Presidency Division. Customs and Stamps are under the direct superintendence of the Board of Revenue. The affairs of the municipality and Municipal taxation are managed by a Chairman and Board of Justices specially appointed for Calcutta.

The public Civil Service is divided into two classes, the Cove

Covenanted and Uncovenanted Civil Service.

nanted and Uncovenanted. The former includes the civil servants who have entered into covenant with the Home Government, whether nominated to the service by the old Court of Directors and passed through Hayleybury, or whether appointed after passing the open competition examination for the Service, which is now held yearly. The number of Covenanted Civilians employed in Bengal on the 31st March 1873 was 271, of whom 101 were from Hayleybury and 170 had entered the service after competitive examination. There were then four native gentlemen in the Bengal Covenanted Civil Service. The principal appointments that are at present held by Covenanted officers are, the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal, at least one-third of the Judgeships of the High Court, the Board of Revenue, the Regulation Commissionerships, the principal Secretariat appointments, the Registrarship of the High Court, the Legal Remem. brancership, the Inspector-Generalship of the Jail and Registration Departments, the Collectorship and Deputy Collectorship of Customs, the Civil and Session Judgeships, and the District MagistrateCollectorships, Joint-Magistracies and Assistant Magistracies of the interior.

The Uncovenanted civil servants include all other civilians under Government employ, and are for the most part those Europeans, East Indians, and Natives who have been appointed in this country without reference to the Secretary of State. Their allowances are fixed on a lower standard, and their responsibilities are, generally speaking, of an inferior class to those of the Covenanted Civil Service. The principal appointments held by Uncovenanted officers are the appointments in the Educational, Opium and Police Departments, the Small Cause Court Judgeships, Subordinate Judgeships and Moonsiffships, the Deputy Magistracies and Deputy Collectorships, the several appointments in the Non-Regulation Provinces, the special and rural SubRegistrarships, and the appointments of Sub-Deputy and Canoongoe that have recently been established. Most of these appointments are held by natives, but Europeans and East Indians are also eligible and have a considerable share of the subordinate appointments in the district executive and in the judiciary, as well as most of the appointments in the Police, Opium, Customs, and some other departments.

The Regulation Provinces are, with the exception of a few departmental appointments, exclusively officered by Covenanted or Uncove

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