A History of Assam c23.29

c23.29

Lieutenant-Colonel R. H. Keatinge, V.C., C.S.I., was appointed the first Chief Commissioner. By Acts VIII and XII of 1874 the legal powers which were previously vested in the Lieutenant-Governor or the Board of Revenue, Bengal, were transferred to the Governor-General in Council, who was at the same time authorised to delegate all or any of them to the Chief Commissioner. The powers so delegated, combined with those conferred by the General Clauses Act, which vests in the Chief Commissioner the powers of a Local Government in respect of Acts of the Imperial Council passed since the year 1874, practically placed the Chief Commissioner in the position of a Local Government in respect of all legislative enactments in force in the province.* By Resolutions of the Government of India dated the 12th May and 18th December, 1874, the new Administration was provided with a separate staff of Deputy and Assistant Commissioners and other officers required to carry on the revenue and judicial business of the country. Since then the term Assam, which had originally been applied to the tract of country ruled by the Ahoms, and was subsequently used with reference to the area under the control of the Commissioner of Assam, *i.e.*, the six districts of the Brahmaputra valley, has been given a wider signification, and is now used as the designation of the whole territory which was included in the Chief Commissionership, including the Surma valley, the hill districts and Manipur.