Lord Cornwallis started the Civil Service in Indian to effectively administer British territories in India. He introduced strict regulations for the officials, raised their salaries and linked promotion to seniority. These measures made the Civil Service a coveted profession. To train young civil servants, the Fort William College was set up at Calcutta I AD 1801. Another institution that trained them was the East India College in England. Initially, the civil servants came through nomination of the Directors of the East India Company. In AD 1853, this system ended and all appointments began to be made through a competitive examination.
Indians were not allowed to enter the higher levels of the Civil Service. All posts worth more than £ 500 a year in salary were reserved for the Britishers. Indians could only get selected to subordinate posts.
The civil servants were expected to perform many duties. British possessions in India were divided into districts. Each district had three main officials- the collector to supervise revenue collection and the overall administration of the district, the magistrate who maintained law and order and the judge who administered justice. All of them thought only of furthering British interests in India and never involved the Indians in the task of administration.