Exp) Option b is the correct answer. On June 3, 1947, Lord Mountbatten, the viceroy of India, put forth the Mountbatten Plan. The plan was accepted by the Congress and the Muslim League. Immediate effect was given to the plan by enacting the Indian Independence Act.

Statement 1 is correct: The act dropped the title of ‘Emperor of India’ from the royal titles of the king of England. It proclaimed the lapse of British paramountcy over the Indian princely states and treaty relations with tribal areas from August 15,1947.

Statement 2 is correct: The act ended the British rule in India and declared India as an independent and sovereign state.

Statement 3 is incorrect: The act abolished the office of the secretary of state for India. It discontinued the appointment to civil services and reservation of posts by the secretary of state for India.

Important Tips

Other provisions of Indian Independence Act of 1947: • It provided for the partition of India and creation of two independent dominions of India and Pakistan with the right to secede from the British Commonwealth.

• It abolished the office of viceroy and provided, for each dominion, a governor-general, who was to be appointed by the British King on the advice of the dominion cabinet.
• It empowered the Constituent Assemblies of the two dominions to frame and adopt any constitution for their respective nations and to repeal any act of the British Parliament, including the Independence act itself.
• It empowered the Constituent Assemblies of both the dominions to legislate for their respective territories till the new constitutions were drafted and enforced.