Ahmedabad: Former chief justice of the Jharkhand High Court Bhagwati Prasad passed away at a private hospital Sunday evening, family sources said.

He was 68.

Prasad was admitted to the hospital yesterday after he suffered low blood pressure complications, they said, adding that the last rites will be performed tomorrow.

He was the chairperson of the Gujarat State Human Rights Commission (GSHRC) and had been the judge in the Rajasthan and Gujarat high courts.

Justice Prasad was appointed the GSHRC chairperson on August 4 last year, nearly five years after he superannuated as the chief justice of the Jharkhand High Court.

Hailing from Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, Prasad started his career as a lawyer at the Rajasthan High Court and served as the chief of the Rajasthan High Court Advocates’ Association and president of the Bar Council of India.

He was appointed as a judge of the Rajasthan High Court in 1996 and of the Gujarat High Court on February 7, 2008, before being elevated as the chief justice of the Jharkhand High Court on August 22, 2010.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Governor O P Kohli expressed grief on his demise.