Sir Saiyid Fazl Ali OBE (19 September 1886 – 22 August 1959) was an Indian judge,[1] the governor of two Indian states (Assam and Odisha), 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.

Fazl Ali
3rd Governor of Odisha
In office
7 June 1952 – 9 February 1954
Preceded byAsaf Ali
Succeeded byP. S. Kumaraswamy Raja
Judge of Supreme Court of India
In office
26 January 1950 – 18 September 1951
Appointed byPresident
Chief Justice of Patna High Court
In office
19 January 1943 – 14 October 1946
Personal details
Born19 September 1886
Died22 August 1959(1959-08-22) (aged 72)
ParentSaiyid Nazir Ali (father) Kubra Begum (mother)

Career

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Fazl belonged to an aristocratic Syed Zamindar family of Bihar 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 first and of Khan Bahadur later. In 1918, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (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, Lord Linlithgow.[2][3][4]

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.[citation needed] He opened the first college in the Naga heartland in Mokokchung, which is today known as 'Fazl Ali College' in his honour. The College celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010.[citation needed]

Over the course of his tenure on the Supreme Court, Fazl Ali authored 56 judgments and was a part of 113 benches.[5] 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).[6]

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, by the government of India in 1956.

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  1. ^ "Home | SUPREME COURT OF INDIA".
  2. ^ London Gazette, 4 June 1918
  3. ^ London Gazette, 1 January 1941
  4. ^ The London Gazette, 1 May 1942
  5. ^ "S.F. Ali". Supreme Court Observer. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  6. ^ "The First Eight". Supreme Court Observer. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
Government offices
Preceded by Governor of Assam
1956–1959
Succeeded by