Mohammed Fazal was the Governor of Maharashtra from October 10, 2002 to December 5, 2004.

He is known for his controversial suggestion to the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Sushilkumar Shinde

Sushilkumar Shinde

Sushilkumar Shinde is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He is currently the Cabinet Minister for Power in the Manmohan Singh government.-Dalit background:...

 to legalise prostitution

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

.

Born in a well-known zamindar

Zamindar

A Zamindar or zemindar , was an aristocrat, typically hereditary, who held enormous tracts of land and ruled over and taxed the bhikaaris who lived on batavaslam. Over time, they took princely and royal titles such as Maharaja , Raja , Nawab , and Mirza , Chowdhury , among others...

's (landlord's) family, he studied at the Allahabad University

Allahabad University

Allahabad University , is a premier Central University located in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Its origins lie in the Muir Central College, named after Lt...

 and later at the London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

 at the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

.

In 1977, he was appointed the Secretary of Industrial Development, Government of India

Government of India

The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

. He served the Planning Commission as its senior-most member from April 1980 till his resignation in January 1985. Thereafter, Mr. Fazal was the founding chairperson of Hughes & Hughes Chem Ltd.

In 1999, he was appointed the Governor of Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

 a post he held until he was appointed as Governor of Maharashtra.

External links

• "Green signal to red light" - article in Bombay Times
  Bombay Times
  The Bombay Times is a free supplement of The Times of India, in the Mumbai region.It covers celebrity news, news features, international and national music news, international and national fashion news, lifestyle and feature articles pegged on news events both national and international that have...
  
  about the governor's views
• Biodata at website of Raj Bhavan