Sir Saiyid Fazl Ali,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(19 September 1886 – 22 August 1959) was an Indian judge, the governor of two Indian states (

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

and

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

), and the head of the

States Reorganisation Commission The States Reorganisation Commission of India (SRC) constituted by the Central Government of India in December 1953 to recommend the reorganization of state boundaries. In September 1955, after two years of study, the Commission, comprising Just ...

which determined the boundaries of several Indian states in 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 ''Syed'' ''

Zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

'' family of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

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 - a compound of Khan "Leader" and Sahib "Master" - was a formal title of respect and honour, which was conferred mainly on Muslim, and also on Parsi, Irani, and Jewish subjects of the British Indian Empire. It was a title one deg ...

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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE). He was knighted in the 1941 New Year Honours list 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 Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

, Lord Linlithgow. India became independent in 1947 as the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India, * * was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations existing between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. Until its Indian independence movement, independence, India had be ...

. Under the new dispensation of the Republic of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, Sir Fazl Ali was

Governor of Odisha The Governor of Odisha is the head of the Indian state of Odisha. The Governor (India), governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at central level. They exist in the States of India, state ...

from 1952 to 1954, and

Governor of Assam This is a list of governors of Assam, and other offices of similar scope, from the start of British occupation of the area in 1824 during the First Anglo-Burmese War. The governor of Assam is the nominal head of the Indian state of Assam. The ...

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 () is a municipality in the Mokokchung District of the Indian state of Nagaland. It serves as the district headquarters as well as the main urban hub of Mokokchung District. Mokokchung is the cultural nerve centre of the Ao people ...

, which is today known as ' Fazl Ali College' in his honour. The College celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. Over the course of his tenure on the Supreme Court, Fazl Ali authored 56 judgments and was a part of 113 benches. Notably, he dissented in two early free speech cases before the Supreme Court, Romesh Thapar v. State of Madras (1950) and Brij Bhushan v. State of Delhi (1950). Fazl Ali headed the

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 ( , lit. "Lotus Grandeur") 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 w ...

, by the government of India in 1956.

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 Khan Bahadurs Indian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in public affairs Indian Shia Muslims