ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that in the evolution of constitutional democracy in India, the British initiatives which led to the establishment of political institutions supportive of liberal values during colonialism remained critical in the efforts that the nationalists undertook in constitutionalizing India. Focusing on the landmark constitutional designs during the British rule, it is an analytical account of the British politico-legal strategies to consolidate the Raj. These designs were also devices to weaken the nationalist agitation as and when it became a serious threat to the government. Complaints against the 'misrule' of the East India Company poured in and as a result, the House of Commons appointed a Committee of Secrecy to look into the authenticity of the complaints. The findings of the Committee went seriously against the Company. The result was the adoption of the Regulating Act of 1773, the first formal articulation of the British supremacy over a part of India that abolished the Dual Government of the Company.
