Correct Option: C

The British took over Awadh (Oudh) (1856) claiming that the local ruler was not ruling properly despite the fact that the British relations with the state of Awadh went back to the Treaty of Allahabad in 1765. In 1851, William Sleeman, Resident at Lucknow, reported on the “spectacle of human misery and careless misrule”. But Sleeman was against the policy of annexing Awadh. After surveying the situation in Awadh, Dalhousie annexed it in 1856. Nawab Wajid Ali was granted a pension of 12 lakhs of rupees per year.