Sanawar's centenary year (1947) was crucial to the development of the school. With Indian independence, the bulk of the staff and children at Sanawar returned to Britain. However, the then-Governor General, Lord Louis Mountbatten, presided at the centenary celebrations and read out a message from King George VI. Thereafter, control of the school passed from the Crown to the government of India's Ministry of Defence. A further transfer in 1949 brought the school under the control of the Ministry of Education. In June 1952 the Ministry resolved to administer the school through a society created under the Societies Registration Act 1860, subject to a Memorandum of Association and rules and regulations to be approved by the government. These provided that the government Secretaries in the Ministries of Education, Defence, and Finance would serve as ex-officio members of the society, with four other members appointed by the government. The employees of the school, previously government servants, lost that status. The property and other assets of the school, which then had an estimated value of twenty-five lakhs of rupees, were transferred to the society with effect from June 1954.