The Islington Commission, The Montagu-Chelmsford Report and The Lee Commission

The Islington Commission (1912) Following more Indian pressures for greater share in public services, the British Government set up a Royal Commission on Civil Service under Lord Islington in 1912. It recommended:
(i) 25 per cent of the posts in the superior civil service should be filled from among Indians, partly by direct recruitment and partly by promotion.
(ii) the examination for the recruitment of civil ser­
vants should be held in India.

The Montagu-Chelmsford Report (1918) The Montagu­Chelmsford report, which took a more liberal and sympa thetic view on Indians missing the civil service proposed that
(i) India should be the venue for conducting exami­nation for 33 per cent of the superior posts and that this percentage should increase by 1.5 per cent annually;
(ii) there should be nQ racial discrimination in matter
of appointment; and
(iii) there must be a system of appointment in India for all those public services for which there was a recruit­ment in England, open to Europeans and, Indians alike.
These proposals were accepted and became the basis of appointment for about ten years.

The Lee Commission (1923) A Royal Commission under Lord Lee was appointed in 1923. The Lee commission submitted its report in 1924. Its major recommendations were as follows:
(i) 20 per cent of the officers should be recruited by promotion from provincial civil services and of the remain­ing 80 per cent, half should be British and half Indian; and
(ii) a Public Service Commission with five full-fledged members should be appointed immediately. (Such a com­mission was appointed in 1925.)
The government accepted most of the Lee Commission recommendations.