Explanation: On February 20, 1947, the British Prime Minister Clement Atlee declared that the British rule in India would end by June 30,1948; after which the power would be transferred to responsible Indian hands.

• This announcement was followed by the agitation by the Muslim League demanding partition of the country.
• Again on June 3, 1947, the British Government made it clear that any Constitution framed by the Constituent Assembly of India (formed in 1946) cannot apply to those parts of the country which were unwilling to accept it.
• On the same day (June 3, 1947), Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, put forth the partition plan, known as 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 Act9 (1947).

The features of this Act were as follows:

• It ended the British rule in India and declared India as an independent and sovereign state from August 15, 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.
• His Majesty’s Government in Britain was to have no responsibility with respect to the Government of India or Pakistan.
• 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.

Source: Laxmikanth Polity