§ SIR W. WEDDERBURNI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether the attention of the Secretary of State for India has been drawn to a scheme for the separation of judicial and executive functions in Bengal, by Mr. H. C. Dutt, C.T.E., of the Bengal Civil Service, which has appeared in the August number of India, and which scheme is supported and recommended by Sir Richard Garth, late Chief Justice of the High Court of Bengal; whether his attention has been drawn to the facts adduced in the above scheme to show that it is possible to effect such separation without increasing the staff of officers or adding to the cost of administration; and whether, in view of the opinion recently expressed by the Secretary of State for India, that the present system of the union of judicial and executive functions in India is bad in principle, Her Majesty's Government will appoint a Commission to consider and report on the above scheme, or to devise some other practical scheme for separating judicial and executive functions in India?
MR. G. RUSSELL(1 and 2.) Yes, Sir. The attention of the Secretary of State has been drawn to the article referred to; but he is unable, as at present advised, to admit that the proposed scheme, or any practical scheme for the separation of the two branches, could be carried out without increased expense. (3.) The Secretary of State, when expressing the opinion—to which he still adheres—that the union of judicial and executive powers is contrary to right principle, added that it is impossible that the Government of India can find means at the present time of making this reform; and he therefore considers that there would be no advantage in appointing a Commission such as is suggested.