Pillars of British Administration

IAS Notes November 04, 2022

Pillars of British Administration


4 Pillars of British Administration are -
  1. Civil Services
  2. Army
  3. Police
  4. Judicial Organisations

★   Civil Services 
  • The creator of modern Civil Services in India was Lord Cornwallis. 
  • Earlier, Court of directors exercised power of nominating the Civil Servants which often resulted into favouritism and corruption.
  • Cornwallis tried to address this problem of corruption by banning private trade, raising the salary and enforcing promotion through seniority.
  • At this time company's Civil Services in India became highest paid Civil Services in the world.
  • Cornwallis also adopted the short-sighted policy of Europeanisation of services and made sure that no Indian could enter the Civil Service. 
  • Officially in 1793, it was laid down that all the higher post in administration worth 500 pound annual salary could be held only be English men.
  • In order to provide training to the Civil Servants, Lord Wellesley established Indian Civil Servant Training College at Fort William, Calcutta.
  • But later it was disapproved by the Court of directors in Britain who established a separate training college at Hailey Bury in London in 1806.

★   Army 
  • There existed two types of British army in India.
    1. Queen's Army - It comprises only British soldiers and was an army of occupation and the ultimate guarantor of British hold over India.
    2. Troops Army - It comprises both British as well as Indians. It was an army of expansion not only in India but also outside India.
  • The bulk of Company's army comprised of Indian soldiers (86% Indians in 1857). 
  • Keeping a British army would have been very expensive. However, all the officers in the army were Britishers and the highest position that an Indian could reach was the post of Subedar.
  • It is surprising that handful of Britishers could control a pre-dominant Indian army. It is mainly attributed to the absence of modern nationalism in India at that time.
  • Moreover, the Indians had a strong tradition of loyalty towards the salt.
  • As such Indian sepoys acted as a good mercenary and the Britishers were a good pay master (timely payment of salary and by and large the salary is good enough to meet the general demands).

★   Police 
  • The third pillar, police was again the creation of Cornwallis.
  • He relieved all the Zamindars from the duty of maintaining law and order. They were replaced by organised police force under the command of company.
  • Districts were divided into many circles known as 'Thanas' and an Indian officer was appointed to look after the affairs of thana who was knwon as 'Daroga'. 
  • At the district level a Superintendent of Police was appointed.
  • Lord William Bentick abolished the office of Superintendent of Police and vested all his function to the District Collector.

★   Judicial Organisation under the British 
  • The initiative to start a modern judicial system in India was taken by 'Warren Hastings' on Mughal model.
  • He set up 'Diwani adalat' for civil cases and 'Faujdari adalat' for criminal cases.
  • Appeals from Diwani adalat were made to Sadar Diwani adalat and appeals from Faujdari adalat were made to Sadar Nizamat adalat.
  • Both the courts followed Hindu and Muslim law.

  • However, Lord Cornwallis brought changes in the framework.
  • Under him the district Diwani and Faujdari adalat were abolished and Circuit courts were setup at Calcutta, Patna, Decca and Murshidabad.
  • Circuit Courts acted as courts of appeal for both civil and criminal cases. And it was under the supervision of an European judge.
  • Cornwallis also created district court which was popularly known as Jila adalat. 
  • He also established Gradation of Courts in India.

judicial organisation


The Supreme Court was the highest court of appeal for the area closer to the Calcutta. For other areas like Bihar, the highest court of appeal is King in Council (King's Court) which took the case above worth ₹50,000 and for cases amounting less than ₹50,000, the highest court of appeal is Sadar Diwani and Sadar Nizamat adalat.

  • In 1793, Cornwallis came up with the famous 'Cornwallis code' which was based on the separation of power and he divested District Collector from all his judicial power and Collector was left with the responsibility of revenue administration.
  • In 1831, Lord William Bentick abolished the four Provincial Circuit Courts and at their place Judicial commissionaires were created.
  • As per the recommendations of law commission, High Courts were established at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras by 1865 at the place of Sadar diwani and Sadar Nizamat adalat.
  • Supreme Court at Calcutta was fused with the Calcutta High Court.

Gradation of Courts by 1865

gradation of courts

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Next Article - Permanent Settlement

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Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own. 

Hope! It will help you to achieve your dream of getting selected in Civil Services Examination 👍
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