Sir Saiyid Fazl Ali OBE (19 September 1886 – 22 August 1959) was an Indian judge, the governor of two Indian states (

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

), and the head of the States Reorganisation Commission which determined the boundaries of several Indian states in the December 1953.Their commission submitted the report in September 1953 broadly accepting the language as the basis of reorganisation of states.

Career

Fazl belonged to an aristocratic Zamindar (landlord) family of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

state. He studied law and began practicing. Eventually he was raised to the judiciary. Sir Fazl Ali was successively given the title of

Khan Sahib Khan Sahib is a compound of khan (leader) and sahib (master) - was a formal title of respect and honour, which was conferred mainly on Muslim, but also to Parsi, Irani, and Jewish subjects of the British Indian Empire. It was a title one degr ...

first and of Khan Bahadur later. In 1918, he was made an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE). He was knighted in the New Year's Honours list of 1941 and invested with his knighthood on 1 May 1942 by the

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...

Lord Linlithgow Marquess of Linlithgow, in the County of Linlithgow or West Lothian, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 23 October 1902 for John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun. The current holder of the title is Adrian Hope. This ...

.The London Gazette, 1 May 1942
/ref> India became independent in 1947. Under the new dispensation, Fazl Ali was governor of Odisha from 1952 to 1954 and of Assam from 1956 to 1959. He died while serving as governor of Assam. Whilst in Assam, he made strenuous efforts to bring the disgruntled Naga tribals into the mainstream of society. He opened the first college in the Naga heartland in

Mokokchung Mokokchung (Pron: /ˌməʊkɒkˈtʃʌŋ/) is a municipality in the Mokokchung District of Nagaland, India. It serves as the district headquarters as well as the main urban hub of Mokokchung District. Mokokchung is the cultural nerve centre of ...

, which is today known as ' Fazl Ali College' in his honour. The College celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. Fazl Ali headed the States Reorganisation Commission that made recommendations about the reorganization of India's states. For his services to India, he was bestowed with the country's second-highest civilian honour, the

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons without ...

, by the government of India.

External links

* Lokshaba https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/1806/1/lsd_02_08_22-08-1959.pdf page 52 * http://assamassembly.gov.in/governor-list.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Fazal 1886 births 1959 deaths Chief Justices of the Patna High Court 20th-century Indian judges Governors of Assam Governors of Odisha Indian Knights Bachelor 20th-century Indian Muslims Knights Bachelor Indian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in public affairs Indian Shia Muslims