Lokpal member Justice AK Tripathi dies due to COVID-19

After battling for life for a month, Lokpal member Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi died in the national capital due to COVID-19 on Saturday.

Justice Tripathi, who was a former Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court, was 63 when he breathed his last at 8:30 pm at the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre of the AIIMS here.

His daughter and cook, who had contracted COVID-19, have recovered.

Appointed one of the four judicial members in the Lokpal on March 23 last year, Justice Tripathi had been on ventilator support for the past fortnight as his condition worsened while he was in hospital.

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He was admitted to the AIIMS on April 2 and became the first person to be shifted to the Trauma Centre in the campus after it was designated as special COVID-19 medical centre.

An avid golfer who won several amateur golf tournaments, Justice Tripathi had started his career as a lawyer in 1981 in the Patna High Court.

Before becoming an Additional Judge in the Patna High Court in October 2006, he was in the Standing Council of the central government. He also served as Additional Advocate General of the Bihar government.

In 2007, he was elevated to the postition of a permanent judge while in July 2018, he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court.

Tripathi was instrumental in setting up the Chanakya National Law University in Patna besides being a member of the Academic Council of National Law School in Bengaluru.