New Delhi, November 19
President of The Tribune Trust and former Chief Justice of India Justice R. S. Pathak, who passed away in the early hours of Sunday following a heart attack, was cremated here today. The last rites were performed by his three sons at the Lodhi Road crematorium.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the residence of Justice Pathak in the morning and offered his condolences to the members of the bereaved family. In his message yesterday, Dr Manmohan Singh described Justice Pathak as “a man of great learning, wisdom and unimpeachable integrity”.

Union finance minister P. Chidambaram, Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Delhi High Court Chief Justice M. K. Sharma and Election Commissioner Navin Chawla were among several dignitaries to call at the residence of Justice Pathak to pay their homage.

A large number of eminent personalities had gathered at the Lodhi Road crematorium to pay their last respects. There were two former Chief Justices of India Justice A. S. Anand and Justice J. S. Verma, former Marshal of Indian Air Force Arjan Singh and his wife, former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Justice Rajinder Sachar, former Governor of Karnataka B.K. Chaturvedi, former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice A. B. Saharya, Bar Association of India president P. H. Parikh, former Additional Solicitor General K. N. Bhatt and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Himachal Pradesh Chief Justice V. K. Gupta was also present.

The working president of the SAD, Sukhbir Singh Badal, represented his father and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Trustees of the Tribune Trust R. P. Bambah, Justice S. S. Sodhi and N. N. Vohra, Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune H. K. Dua and General Manager Sanjay Hazari as well as the representatives of the Tribune Employees Union were also present at the crematorium.

Wreaths were placed on behalf of information minister of Punjab Bikram Singh Majithia, the Bar Council of India, Trustees of the Tribune Trust, Shobha Nehru, wife of the former Tribune Trust president and late diplomat B.K. Nehru, the Editor-in-Chief and staff of the newspaper, the General Manager and the staff, Editor of the Dainik Tribune Naresh Kaushal, Editor of the Punjabi Tribune G.S. Sidhu Damdami and the Tribune Employees Union.

Justice Pathak was the second son of former Vice-President Gopal Swarup Pathak. He is survived by his wife Asha Pathak and sons Vivek, Jai and Anand.

He was elevated to the Supreme Court in February 1978 while he was Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh. He became the Chief Justice of India on December 21, 1986. Justice Pathak relinquished the post in June 1989 after he was appointed a judge of the International Court of Justice, Hague.