Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms

English 60About the AuthorVAPAL PANGUNNI MENON found himself placed in the midst of the active life of the Government Secretariat at Delhi, when he joined service in 1914. In the years that followed, as he rose steadily in the ladder of official gradation and came to shoulder increasing responsibilities, the keen intellect behind his genial-looking face developed political sagacity and legal acumen of a rare order.Thus in the fateful years during the World War II and after the end of it, he had the duty of advising the Governor-General on the problems confronting him over the transfer of power into Indian hands. Lord Wavell appointed him as Secretary to the Governor-General (Public) and later as Secretary to the Cabinet. As Secretary to the Governor-General (Public), he was the only Adviser to the Governor-General as to the manner in which he should exercise his control over the Governors of Provinces and also with regard to filling up of appointments which the Governor- General was to make under the provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935.Lord Mountbatten, who attached great importance to Sri Menon's advice, acknowledged his work with profuse appreciation. For instance, at the banquet in Rashtrapati Bhavan which the Prime Minister gave to Lord Mountbatten during his recent visit (May 1965), Lord Mountbatten, in his speech, paid a most moving tribute to Sri Menon for what India owed to him during the Transfer of Power, 1947-48.After the advent of independence, it was Sri Menon who, as Secretary and Adviser to the Ministry of States, bore the brunt of the stupendous task of the integration of the various princely states into the Union of India under the able directions of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.<