New Delhi, Apr 5, DHNS:  Govind Narain, one of the last surviving ICS officers and former Governor of Karnataka passed away at his south Delhi residence on Tuesday night.

Ninety-year-old Narain, a Padma Vibhushan awardee, breathed his last at his residence in Chattarpur last night due to old age. He had refused to be admitted in a hospital and died peacefully at home, the family said on Wednesday.

He was cremated at the Lodhi crematorium. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was present at the cremation, also attended by several bureaucrats. He is survived by his two daughters. One of his sons-in-law Yogesh Chandra retired as a senior civil servant in the rank of cabinet secretary to the government of India while his grand son Vikram Chandra is a well-known TV journalist.

Born on May 5, 1916 in UP's Mainpuri, Oxford-educated Narain joined the ICS in 1939. Narain, who worked under Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi, was the Home Secretary from 1971 to 1973 and was one of the top officers instrumental in planning the Bangladesh war and setting up of Mukti Bahini.

In 1973, he was moved to the Defence Ministry as the Defence Secretary, a post from which he retired two years later. He was also served as the Karnataka governor from 1977 to 1983. He was a post-graduate in science from Allahabad University.