Indian Independence Act, 1947
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| Long title | An Act to make provision for the setting up in India of two independent Dominion states, to substitute other provisions for certain provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935, which apply outside those Dominions, and to provide for other matters consequential on or connected with the setting up of those Dominions. |
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| Citation | 1947 c. 30 (10 & 11. Geo. 6.) |
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| Royal assent | 18 July 1947 |
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Status: Spent
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The Indian Independence Act 1947 (1947 c. 30 (10 & 11. Geo. 6.)) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan. The Act received the royal assent on 18 July 1947, and Pakistan came into being on 15 August at the same time as Indian independence.
The legislation was formulated by the government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee and the Governor General of India Lord Mountbatten, after representatives of the Indian National Congress, the Muslim League, and the Sikh community came to an agreement with the Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, on what has come to be known as the 3 June Plan or Mountbatten Plan. This plan was the last plan for independence.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom announced on 20 February 1947 that:
This was also known as the Mountbatten Plan. The British government proposed a plan announced on 3 June 1947 that included these principles:
The Act's most important provisions were:
The Act also made provision for the division of joint property, etc. between the two new countries, including in particular the division of the armed forces.
On 4 June 1947 Mountbatten held a press conference in which he addressed the question of the princely states, of which there were over 570. The treaty relations between Britain and the Indian States would come to an end, and on 15 August 1947 the suzerainty of the British Crown was to lapse. They would be free to accede to one or the other of the new dominions.
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