TABLE OF CONTENT

S.NO. TOPIC PAGE

1. INTRODUCTION 04

2. BACKGROUND 05

3. Political integration after independence and the 06-09

constitution of 1950

4. State Reorganization Act, 1956 10-11

5. CONCLUSION 12
 Central University of South Bihar
School of Law and Governance

TOPIC: Constitutional Position of Indian States After

1947

Under the supervision of :

Dr. Nitu Kumari
Assistant Professor,
School of Law and Governance,
Central University of South Bihar
Submitted By:
VISHAL CHOUDHARY
BA.LL.B. (Hons.)
Section- ‘B’
3rd Semester (2021-20126)
Enrollment Number – CUSB2113125128
 INTRODUCTION
The Indian Independence Act was passed by the British parliament on July 5, 1947. Its aim
was to transfer the power from the British Crown to the newly independent dominions of India
and Pakistan. It terminated British suzerainty over Indian affairs. The Indian National
Congress, the Muslim League, and the Sikh Community reached an agreement with Lord
Mountbatten on the 3 June Plan, also known as Mountbatten Plan, in the Indian Assembly.
Lord Mountbatten, however, continued as the Governor-General of newly independent India
till 1948.1

The following are the salient features of the Indian Independence Act 1947:

• The Act declared India as a sovereign and independent state.

• It also made provisions for the partition of the Indian state into two separate dominions
of India and Pakistan on grounds of religious differences.

• The position of the Secretary of States for India was abolished.

• The office of the Viceroy was also abolished and the Act initiated for the providence of
two separate Governor-Generals to be appointed for the dominions of India and
Pakistan on the advice of the British Cabinet.

• The Constituent Assemblies of both the dominions were authorised to formulate their
respective constitutions and also to repeal any law of the British Parliament formulated
for the Indian state, including the Independence Act itself.

• The Constituent Assemblies were empowered to act as legislative bodies for their
respective dominions till the time they could formulate a constitution for their state.

• It granted authority to the princely states to join either of the dominions or remain
independent.

• The governance of each dominion was to be done on the basis of the Government of
India Act, of 1935.

• The British Monarch no longer had the authority to veto or ask for the bills of the Indian
state. The Governor-General of each dominion had to act on the advice of the council.2

1
https://unacademy.com/content/mppsc/study-material/history/indian-indepenence-act-1947/ (Visited on
October 25,2022)
2
https://learn.culturalindia.net/indian-independence-act-1947.html (Visited on October 25,2022)
 BACKGROUND

Before Independence, there were two types of states:

• Princely states: (There were 556 princely states)

These states were ruled by an Indian king subjected to British empire. The kings can
follow their own laws and rules. But their powers were limited.

If we compare with present system.

King= state governor & British government= central government.

State governors can form rules of their respective states but center government have
power to overrule.

e.g. Hyderabad, Kashmir, Mysore, etc.

• Provinces: (There were 17 Provinces)

Provinces or Presidencies were those where British had direct control over
administration and politics. Here British laws and Imperial civil service were followed.

e.g. Assam, Bengal, United Province, NWFP, Bombay, etc.

• French and Portuguese enclaves:

At the time of independence from the British rule c.1947, there were several small
colonial enclaves controlled by France (Pondicherry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahe) and
Portugal (Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli).3

3
https://www.quora.com/what-type-of-states-were-present-in-india-before-1947 ( Visited on October
25,2022)
Political integration after independence and the constitution of 1950
Post-independence, one of the first and major problems that surfaced was the
integration of the princely states into the concept of a single unified, uniformly
administered India. Since these princely states, were patronized by the British on a large
scale during the 19th and 20th centuries, they were not comfortable with the idea of
giving away their power and prestige. Some of these states that posed problems were
Jodhpur, Bhopal and Travancore before independence and Junagarh, Hyderabad and
Kashmir post-independence. The newly-formed Government of India was against the
idea of having independent nations within the state would only jeopardise the internal
and external security of India. It was speculated that in case of an act of aggression by
a foreign power, these Princely States would be used as the staging ground for an attack
on the country at large. It wasn’t just the Indian Government trying to woo the Princely
states but also Pakistan as well. Thus it was necessary to integrate the Princely states as
soon as possible.

India’s first Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Vallabhai Patel (Born October, 1875) used
a combination of political manoeuvring and brute force to integrate the Princely states.

HYDERABAD

▪ It was the largest and richest of all princely states, covered a large portion of the
Deccan plateau.

▪ Nizam Mir Usman Ali was presiding over a largely Hindu population in the
princely state.

▪ He was very clear on his demand for an independent state and blatantly refused to
join the Indian dominion.

▪ He drew support from Jinnah and the tussle over Hyderabad grew stronger over
time.

▪ Both requests and threats from Patel and other mediators failed to change the mind
of the Nizam, who kept expanding his army by importing arms from Europe.

▪ Things took a turn for the worse when armed fanatics (called Razakars) unleashed
violence targeted at Hyderabad’s Hindu residents.
▪ The Congress government decided to make a more decisive turn after the Lord
Mountbatten resignation in June 1948.

▪ On September 13, 1948, Indian troops were sent to Hyderabad under ‘Operation
Polo’.

▪ In an armed encounter that lasted for about four days, the Indian army gained full
control of the state and Hyderabad became the integral part of India.

▪ Later, in an attempt to reward the Nizam for his submission, he was made the
governor of the state of Hyderabad.

JUNAGADH

▪ The princely state, situated on the southwestern end of Gujarat, also did not
accede to the Indian union by August 15, 1947.

▪ It was the most important among the group of Kathiawar states and contained
a large Hindu population ruled by the Nawab, Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III.

▪ On September 15, 1947, Nawab Mahabat Khanji chose to accede to Pakistan

ignoring Mountbatten’s views, arguing that Junagadh adjoined Pakistan by sea.

▪ The rulers of two states that were subject to the suzerainty of Junagadh
— Mangrol and Babariawad — reacted by declaring their independence from
Junagadh and acceding to India.

▪ In response, the nawab of Junagadh militarily occupied the two states. Rulers of
the other neighbouring states reacted angrily, sending troops to the Junagadh
frontier, and appealed to the Government of India for assistance.

▪ India believed that if Junagadh was permitted to accede to Pakistan, communal

tension already simmering in Gujarat would worsen, and refused to accept the
Nawab’s choice of accession.

▪ The government pointed out that the state was 80% Hindu, and called for
a plebiscite to decide the question of accession.

▪ India cut off supplies of fuel and coal to Junagadh, severed air and postal links,
sent troops to the frontier, and occupied the principalities of Mangrol and
Babariawad that had acceded to India.
 ▪ Pakistan agreed to discuss a plebiscite, subject to the withdrawal of Indian
troops, a condition India rejected.

▪ On 26 October, the Nawab and his family fled to Pakistan following clashes with
Indian troops. Before leaving, the Nawab had emptied the state treasury of its cash
and securities.

▪ On November 7,1947 Junagadh’s court, facing collapse, invited the Government

of India to take over the State’s administration.

▪ The Dewan of Junagadh, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, the father of the more famous
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, decided to invite the Government of India to intervene.

▪ The government of India accepted the invitation of the Dewan to intervene.

▪ A plebiscite was conducted in February 1948, which went almost unanimously in

favour of accession to India.

▪ Junagadh became a part of the Indian state of Saurashtra until November 1, 1956,
when Saurashtra became part of Bombay state.

▪ In 1960, Bombay state was split into the linguistic states of Maharashtra and
Gujarat, in which Junagadh was located and since then Junagadh is part of
Gujarat.4

KASHMIR

▪ It was a princely state with a Hindu king ruling over a predominant Muslim
population which had remained reluctant to join either of the two dominions.

▪ The case of this strategically located kingdom was not just very different but also
one of the toughest as it had important international boundaries.

▪ The ruler of Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh had offered a proposal of standstill
agreement to both India and Pakistan, pending a final decision on the state’s
accession.

4
https://selfstudyhistory.com/2015/01/18/post-independent-india-integration-india-integration-of-princely-
state/ (Visited on October 25,2022)
▪ Pakistan entered into the standstill agreement but it invaded the Kashmir from
north with an army of soldiers and tribesmen carrying weapons. In the early hours
of 24th October, 1947, thousands of tribal Pathan swept into Kashmir.

▪ The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir appealed to India for help. He sent his
representative Sheikh Abdullah to Delhi to ask for India’s help.

▪ On 26th October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh fled from Srinagar and arrived in
Jammu where he signed an ‘Instrument of Accession’ of J&K state.

▪ According to the terms of the document, the Indian jurisdiction would extend
to external affairs, communications and defence. After the document was signed,
Indian troops were airlifted into the state and fought alongside the Kashmiris.

▪ On 5th March, 1948, Maharaja Hari Singh announced the formation of an interim
popular government with Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah as the Prime Minister.

▪ In 1951, the state constituent assembly was elected. It met for the first time in
Srinagar on 31st October 1951.

▪ In 1952, the Delhi Agreement was signed between Prime Ministers of India and
Jammu & Kashmir giving special position to the state under Indian Constitutional
framework.

▪ On 6th February 1954, the J&K constituent assembly ratified the accession of the
state to the Union of India.

▪ The President subsequently issued the constitution order under Article 370 of the
Constitution extending the Union Constitution to the state with some exceptions
and modifications.

▪ As per Section 3 of the J&K constitution, Jammu & Kashmir is and shall be an
integral part of the Union of India.

▪ On 5th of August 2019, the President of India promulgated the Constitution

(Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019.

▪ The order effectively abrogates the special status accorded to Jammu and
Kashmir under the provision of Article 370 – whereby provisions of the
Constitution which were applicable to other states were not applicable to Jammu
and Kashmir (J&K).
 State Reorganization Act, 1956
Due to accession of Princely States and due to the then haphazard forms of British India
territories, need was felt later to re-organise the entire country in a more reasonable and
popularly acceptable states and union territories. In order to address this need, a State
Reorganisation Committee was constituted in December 1953, with Justice Fazl Ali,
K.M. Panikkar and Hridayanath Kunzru as members to examine the issue and
recommend the principles for re-organization keeping in view the objectivity and
indiscrimination. The Commission reported in 1955. The recommendations were
discussed and debated and ultimately the state reorganisation bill 1956 was introduced
in parliament in April 1956. The States Reorganisation Act was passed in November
1956.

Language alone did not remain the sole basis for re-organisation of states. Regional
culture and complaints of regional imbalance had led to demands of smaller states. The
bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Bihar
and Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh are recent examples of re-
organisation of states. Earlier there was apprehension that linguistic states may foster
separatism and thus weaken national unity. But, on the contrary, linguistic states re-
organization removed major source of grievance which could have led to divisive
tendencies. It has only strengthened national unity.

The States Reorganization Act, 1956, divided Kerala from Mysore state, Andhra
Pradesh from Madras State, Himachal Pradesh as a Union Territory from Punjab and
Tripura and Manipur as a Union Territory from Assam. It also gave Delhi its current
recognition of Union Territory.5

After that, States had always been dividing. In 1960, Gujarat was divided from Bombay
state. In 1962, Pondicherry was liberated from French capture and in 1963, it was
renamed as Puducherry, with its recognition as Union Territory. Goa, Daman and Diu
and Dadra and Nagar Haveli liberated from Portuguese rule in 1961. Dadra and Nagar
Haveli was given a recognition of union territory in 1961 only. Goa and Daman and
Diu were together a Union Territory, but in 1987, Daman and Diu was again divided
from Goa and given a recognition of union territory only, whereas Goa was given a

5
https://www.sansarlochan.in/en/states-reorganisation-act-1956/ ( Visited on October 26,2022)
 recognition of state. Haryana was divided from Punjab in 1966. Himachal Pradesh was
given a recognition of a state in 1971 with some parts of Punjab being merged into the
new state of Himachal Pradesh. Bengal was renamed as West Bengal when Bangladesh
separated from Pakistan in 1971. Bombay was renamed as Maharashtra, United
provinces was renamed as Uttar Pradesh and Central provinces was renamed as Madhya
Pradesh. Also, 3 states, currently known as Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram were
divided from Assam, starting from 1964 to 1971. At this time, Tripura and Manipur
were also given a separate recognition as states. Mysore was renamed as Karnataka in
1973. Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands were also renamed as Lakshadweep
Islands in 1973. Sikkim, which was another territory apart from India, chose India’s
democracy and got into India as a state in 1975. Arunachal Pradesh was again separated
from Assam in 1987. Then in 2000, Chhattisgarh was divided from Madhya Pradesh,
Jharkhand was divided from Bihar and Uttarakhand was divided from Uttar Pradesh.
Then the newest state of all, Telangana, was divided from Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
Now, in 2019, J&K was divided in two Union Territories namely Jammu and Kashmir
and Ladakh. This made this international conflicted land a centrally owned land. And
at the recent in the starting of 2020, an official merger merged the two small union
territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli into a single union territory of
Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. This, at recent, makes India a fraternal
unit of 28 states and 8 union territories. This leaves Orissa (renamed as Odisha), West
Bengal and Rajasthan, the only undivided Indian states of India after Independence.6

6
https://prepp.in/news/e-492-reorganisation-of-states-indian-polity-notes ( Visited on October 26,2022)
 CONCLUSION
The Indian Independence Act paved the way for the independence of the states of India and
Pakistan. The British Crown completely transferred the power to the newly formed states. The
suzerainty of the British was abolished. However, it was accompanied by the violent partition,
which remains one of the largest forced migrations in the history of the world, in which millions
perished. The integration process repeatedly brought Indian and Pakistan leaders into conflict.
After 1956, the acceptance of the principle of linguistic states did not mean that all states
immediately became linguistic. There were exceptions as well. There was “bilingual” Bombay
state, consisting of Gujarati and Marathi speaking people. After a popular agitation, the states
of Maharashtra and Gujarat were created in 1960.Another example is Punjab where there were
two linguistic groups: Hindi speaking and Punjabi speaking. The Punjabi speaking people
demanded a separate state. The SRC had refused to accept the demand on the ground that it
would not solve either the language or communal problem of Punjab. After long powerful
movements, finally in 1966 Punjab was divided into Punjab and Haryana.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to thank my faculty Ms. Kumari Nitu, whose assignment of such relevant topic
made me work towards knowing the subject with a greater interest and enthusiasm and
moreover respected professor guided me throughout the project.

I owe the present accomplishment of my project to my faculty and colleagues, who helped me
throughout the project in regards to the sources of the material needed for this assignment. I
am much obliged to them.

THANK YOU

VISHAL CHOUDHARY

CUSB2113125128

3rd semester

B.A.LL.B.(Hons.)