THE NATURE OF THE CHANGE 255
“ The point is that delegation to an agent may be already extensive, but that circumstance should not obscure the fact of agency or lead to the agent being regarded as having inherent powers of his own.”
These principles, in which it was stated that “where extra-provincial interests predominate the subject should be treated as central,” while
“all subjects in which the interests of the provinces essentially predominate should be provincial, and in respect of (which) the Provincial governments (to) have acknowledged authority of their own,”
were accepted by the Functions Committee appointed to make a division between all-India and Provincial subjects. The recommendations made by the Committee were with minor amendments embodied in what are called Devolution Rules under section 45A of the Government of India Act of 1919, which gave effect to the policy of responsible government and are made a part of the constitutional law of the land, so that the subjects thereby devolving upon the Provinces became the services over which the Provinces gained an acknowledged authority of their own such as they never had before 1833. According to these Devolution Rules the following were declared to be
PROVINCIAL SUBJECTS
1. Local Self-government, that is to say, matters relating to the constitution and powers of municipal corporations, improvement trusts, district boards, mining boards of health and other local authorities established in a Province for the purpose of local self-government, exclusive of matters arising under the Cantonments Act,
1910 ; subject to legislation by the Indian Legislature as regards—
( a ) The powers of such authorities to borrow otherwise than from a Provincial Government, and
( b ) the levying by such authorities of taxation not included in schedule II to the scheduled Taxes Rules.
- Medical administration, including hospitals, dispensaries and asylums, and provision for medical education.