Cabinet Mission Plan — Historical Overview

Historical Overview

Organise the scheme as three levels and two transitional institutions.

Union: — foreign affairs, defence and communications, with the power to raise the finance needed for those responsibilities. A common Union did not imply unrestricted central jurisdiction.
Provincial groups: — executives and legislatures could deal with provincial subjects held in common. Their place in constitution-making made the timing of provincial consent politically important.
Provinces: — other subjects and residual powers. The princely states had a distinct negotiated position and retained powers not ceded to the Union.

For the initial sectional procedure, remember the geographic pattern. A contained Madras, Bombay, United Provinces, Bihar, Central Provinces and Orissa. B contained Punjab, North-West Frontier Province and Sind. C contained Bengal and Assam. Chief Commissioners’ representation was separately provided for; British Baluchistan’s representative was attached to B.

The original Assembly allocation was 292 + 4 + 93 = 389. Provincial legislative assemblies supplied indirect election; the princely-state arrangements were separate. The figure is neither the number present at every meeting nor the Assembly’s final post-partition membership.

Keep the Constituent Assembly separate from the interim government. One framed the constitutional order; the other administered during the transition. Also distinguish initial sectional participation from the later provincial opportunity to leave a group after the first election under the new arrangements. These distinctions explain why constitution-making could continue even though the proposed political settlement collapsed.