Previous Year Question

Option (d) is correct. The Charter Act of 1833 designated the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor-General of India and extended his authority at the level of administration of British India.

At the time, Lord William Bentinck was the Governor-General of Bengal and, following this change, became the first Governor-General of India. The official historical record of Raj Bhavan, West Bengal, also records the alteration of the title under the Charter Act of 1833 and identifies William Bentinck as Governor-General at the time.

The Regulating Act of 1773 reorganised the office of the Governor of Bengal into that of a Governor-General; it did not create the office of Governor-General of India. The Pitt's India Act of 1784 principally strengthened British governmental supervision over the Company's political affairs, while the Charter Act of 1793 renewed the Company's charter. The decisive Act redesignating the office as Governor-General of India was the Charter Act of 1833.

The Act of 1833 went beyond a mere change of title. It ended the Company's commercial functions and made it essentially an administrative agency, strengthened legislative centralisation, gave the Governor-General-in-Council extensive legislative authority, and provided the institutional basis for a Law Commission for the codification of Indian laws.