Previous Year Question

The Indian Independence Bill was presented in the British Parliament on 4 July 1947 by the government of the then British Prime Minister Clement Attlee.

The Bill provided the legal framework for ending British rule in India and establishing two independent Dominions, India and Pakistan.

The Bill completed its Third Reading in the House of Commons on 15 July 1947 and was then sent to the House of Lords.

On 16 July 1947, the House of Lords completed the Second Reading, Committee stage and Third Reading in an exceptionally rapid parliamentary process and passed the Bill.

It then received Royal Assent from King George VI on 18 July 1947, thereby becoming the Indian Independence Act, 1947.

The Act designated 15 August 1947 as the “appointed day” and provided that from that date two independent Dominions, India and Pakistan, would be set up.

The chronology can therefore be remembered as—4 July: Bill introduced → 15 July: Commons → 16 July: Lords → 18 July: Royal Assent → 15 August: appointed day.