Butler Committee (1927)

The Butler Committee, formally known as the Indian States Committee, was a commission established by the British government in 1927 to examine the relationship between the princely states of India and the British Crown. Its official mandate was to investigate and clarify the paramountcy of the British Crown over the Indian states, and to make recommendations for a more satisfactory adjustment of the existing relations between the states and British India.

The Committee was headed by Sir Harcourt Butler and included other members such as Sidney Peel and W.S. Holdsworth. Their investigations involved gathering evidence and conducting interviews with rulers of various princely states, as well as consulting with British officials.

The Committee's report, published in 1929, concluded that the relationship between the princely states and the British Crown was based on treaties, usage, and political practice, and that the states should not be transferred to a government in British India responsible to an Indian legislature without their consent. It argued that the relationship was one between the states and the British Crown directly, not with the Government of India.

The Butler Committee's recommendations were ultimately aimed at preserving the autonomy of the princely states and reinforcing the British paramountcy. The report was met with mixed reactions, being generally welcomed by the princes but criticized by Indian nationalists who viewed it as an attempt to perpetuate British control and prevent the integration of the princely states into a unified, independent India. The Committee's findings and recommendations significantly shaped the political landscape in the lead up to Indian independence in 1947, becoming a point of contention in negotiations regarding the future of the princely states.