The first duty of Mr. Feetham's Committee was to consider what were
the services to be appropriated to the provinces, all others
remaining with the Government of India. The Committee proceeded on
the basis that there is to be no such statutory demarcation of
powers as to leave the validity of Acts passed to be challenged in
the Courts. In other words, no alteration is proposed in the system
under which the All-India Legislature as regards British India, and
each of the Provincial Legislatures as regards its own province,
have in theory concurrent jurisdiction over the whole legislative
field.
In framing the lists the Committee have treated as All-India subjects
certain large general heads, such, for instance, as commerce and laws
regarding property, but have taken out of these and allotted to the
provinces important sections--_e.g._, in the case of the first Excise,
and in the case of the second laws regarding land tenure. Any matter
included in the provincial list is to be deemed to be excluded from any
All-India subject of which otherwise it would form part. Subjects not
expressly included in either list are regarded as All-India subjects,
but the Governor-General in Council may add to the provincial list
"matters of merely local or private interest within the province." It is
claimed that the scheme has been devised on such a basis as to leave the
way open for the process of development.
The list of subjects to be transferred to Indian Ministers is on the
whole more extensive than the suggested list attached to the Joint
Report. With certain reservations University education is to be
transferred, as well as primary, secondary, and technical, on the ground
that the educational system must be regarded as an organic whole. But
European and Anglo-Indian education, which is organized on a separate
basis is excluded from the transfer.
The decision of the functions of the Provincial Government, popularly
known as diarchy, has been criticized as likely to lead to friction, and
sometimes to deadlock. To mitigate these difficulties, the Committee
propose important changes in the relations of the Governor with both
sections of the Government. It is to be the duty of the Governor in
Council in the case of reserved departments, and of the Governor and
Ministers in the case of transferred departments, to take care that the
administration is so conducted as not to prejudice or occasion undue
interference with the working of any department falling in the other
category. The Governor has to decide whether a particular matter falls
within the scope of a reserved or a transferred department, and to take
care that any order given by the Governor-General in Council is complied
with by the department concerned.