Lucknow Pact, December 1916

Scheme of Reforms passed at the 31st session of the Indian National Congress held at Lucknow on 29 December 1916 and adopted by the All-India Moslem League at its Meeting on 31 December 1916

I.-PROVINCIAL LEGISLATIVE COUNCILS

        1. PROVINCIAL Legislative Councils shall consist of four-fifths elected and of one-fifth nominated members.

        2. Their strength shall be not less than one hundred and twenty-five members in the Major Provinces, and from fifty to seventy-five in the Minor Provinces.

        3. The members of Councils should be elected directly by the people on as broad a franchise as possible.

        4. Adequate provision should be made for the representation of important minorities by election, and that the Mahomedans should be represented through special electorates on the Provincial Legislative Council.

        Punjab-One half of the elected Indian members.
        United Provinces-30 per cent.
        Bengal-40 per cent.
        Behar-25 per cent.
        Central Provinces-15 per cent.
        Madras-15 per cent.
        Bombay-One-third

        Provided that Mahomedans shall not participate in any of the other elections to the Legislative Councils.

        Provided further that no Bill, nor any clause thereof, nor a resolution introduced by a non-official member affecting one or the other community, which question is to be determined by the members of that community in the Legislative Council concerned, shall be proceeded with, if three-fourths of the members of that community in the particular Council, Imperial or Provincial, oppose the bill or any clause thereof or the resolution.

        5. The head of the Provincial Government should not be the President of the Legislative Council, but the Council should have the right of electing its President.

        6. The right of asking supplementary questions should not be restricted to the member putting the original question but should be allowed to be exercised by any other member.

        7. (a) Except customs, post, telegraph, mint, salt, opium, railways, army and navy, and tributes from Indian States, all other sources of revenue should be provincial.

            (b) There should be no divided heads of revenue. The Government of India should be provided with fixed contributions from the Provincial Governments, such fixed contributions being liable to revision when extraordinary and unforeseen contingencies render such revision necessary.

            (c) The Provincial Council should have full authority to deal with all matters affecting the internal administration of the province, including the power to raise loans, to impose and alter taxation and to vote on the Budget. All items of expenditure and all proposals concerning ways and means for raising the necessary revenue should be embodied in Bills and submitted to the Provincial Council for adoption.

            (d) Resolutions on all matters within the purview of the Provincial Government should be allowed for discussion in accordance with rules made in that behalf by the Council itself.

            (e) A resolution passed by the Legislative Council shall be binding on the Executive Government, unless vetoed by the Governor in Council, provided however that if the resolution is again passed by the Council after an interval of not less than one year, it must be given effect to.

            (f) A motion for adjournment maybe brought forward for the discussion of a definite matter of urgent public importance if supported by not less than one-eighth of the members present.

        8. Any special meeting of the Council may be summoned on a requisition by not less than one-eighth of the members.

        9. A Bill, other than a Money Bill, may be introduced in Council in accordance with the rules made in that behalf by the Council itself, and the consent of the Government should not be required therefor.

        10. All Bills passed by Provincial Legislatures shall have to receive the assent of the Governor before they become law, but may be vetoed by the Governor-General.

        11. The terms of office of the members shall be five years.

II.-PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS

        1. The head of every Provincial Government shall be a Governor who shall not ordinarily belong to the Indian Civil Service or any of the permanent services.

        2. There shall be in every Province an Executive Council which, with the Governor, shall constitute the Executive Government of the Province.

        3. Members of the Indian Civil Service shall not ordinarily be appointed to the Executive Councils.

        4. Not less than one-half of the members of Executive Council shall consist of Indians to be elected by the elected members of the Provincial Legislative Council.

        5. The term of office of the members shall be five years.

III.-IMPERIAL LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

        1. The strength of the Imperial Legislative Council shall be one hundred and fifty.

        2. Four-fifths of the members shall be elected.

        3. The franchise for the Imperial Legislative Council should be widened as far as possible on the lines of the Mahomedan electorates, and the elected members of the Provincial Legislative Councils should also form an electorate for the return of members to the Imperial Legislative Council.

        4. The President of the Council shall be elected by the Council itself.

        5. The right of asking supplementary questions shall not be restricted to the member putting the original question but should be allowed to be exercised by any other member.

        6. Any special meeting of the Council may be summoned on a requisition by not less than one-eighth of the members.

        7. A Bill, other than a Money Bill, may be introduced in Council in accordance with rules made in that behalf by the Council itself, and the consent of the Executive Government should not be required therefor.

        8. All Bills passed by the Council shall have to receive the assent of the Governor-General before they become law.

        9. All financial proposals relating to sources of income and items of expenditure shall be embodied in Bills. Every such Bill and the Budget as a whole shall be submitted for the vote of the Imperial Legislative Council.

        10. The term of office of members shall be five years.

        11. The matters mentioned hereinbelow shall be exclusively under the control of the Imperial Legislative Council:

            (a) Matters in regard to which uniform legislation for the whole of India is desirable.

            (b) Provincial legislation in so far as it may affect inter-provincial fiscal relations.

            (c) Questions affecting purely Imperial revenue, excepting tributes from Indian States.

            (d) Questions affecting purely Imperial expenditure, except that no resolution of the Imperial Legislative Council shall be binding on the Governor-General in Council in respect of military charges for the defence of the country.

            (e) The right of revising Indian tariffs and customs-duties, of imposing, altering, or removing any tax or cess, modifying the existing system of currency and banking, and granting any aids or bounties to any or all deserving and nascent industries of the country.

            (f) Resolutions on all matters relating to the administration of the country as a whole.

        12. A resolution passed by the Legislative Council should be binding on the Executive Government, unless vetoed by the Governor-General in Council: provided, however, that, if the resolution is again passed by the Council after an interval of not less than one year, it must be given effect to.

        13. A motion for adjournment may be brought forward for the discussion of a definite matter of urgent public importance, if supported by not less than one-eighth of the members present.

        14. The Crown may exercise its power of veto in regard to a Bill passed by a Provincial Legislative Council or by the Imperial Legislative Council within twelve months from the date on which it is passed, and the Bill shall cease to have effect as from the date on which the fact of such veto is made known to the Legislative Council concerned.

        15. The Imperial Legislative Council shall have no power to interfere with the Government of India's direction of the military affairs and the foreign and political relations of India, including the declaration of war, the making of peace and the entering into treaties.

IV.-THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

        1. The Governor-General of India will be the head of the Government of India.

        2. He will have an Executive Council, half of whom shall be Indians.

        3. The Indian members should be elected by the elected members of the Imperial Legislative Council.

        4. Members of the Indian Civil Service shall not ordinarily be appointed to the Executive Council of the Governor-General.

        5. The power of making all appointments in the Imperial Civil Services shall vest in the Government of India as constituted under this scheme, and subject to any laws that may be made by the Imperial Legislative Council.

        6. The Government of India shall not ordinarily interfere in the local affairs of a province, and powers not specifically given to a Provincial Government shall be deemed to be vested in the former. The authority of the Government of India will ordinarily be limited to general supervision and superintendence over the Provincial Governments.

        7. In legislative and administrative matters, the Government of India, as constituted under this scheme, shall, as far as possible, be independent of the Secretary of State.

        8. A system of independent audit of the accounts of the Government of India should be instituted.

V.-THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN COUNCIL

        1. The Council of the Secretary of State for India should be abolished.

        2. The salary of the Secretary of State should be placed on the British Estimates.

        3. The Secretary of State should, as far as possible, occupy the same position in relation to the Government of India as the Secretary of State for the Colonies in relation to the Governments of the self-governing Dominions.

        4. The Secretary of State for India should be assisted by two permanent under-secretaries, one of whom should always be an Indian.

VI.-MILITARY AND OTHER MATTERS OF POLICY

        1. The military and naval services of His Majesty, both in their commissioned and non-commissioned ranks, should be thrown open to Indians and adequate provision should be made for their selection, training and instruction in India.

        2. Indians should be allowed to enlist as volunteers.

        3. Indians should be placed on a footing of equality in respect of status and rights of citizenship with other subjects of His Majesty the King throughout the Empire.

        4. The Executive Officers in India shall have no judicial powers entrusted to them, and the judiciary in every province shall be placed under the highest Court of that province.

From: A. Berriedale Keith, ed. Speeches and Documents on Indian Policy, 1750-1921. Vol. III. London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1922, 116-131.