Former Himachal Pradesh governor and ex-union minister Sheila Kaul passed away at the age of 101.

She was ill for a brief period before her death on Saturday night, her family members said.

Elected to the Lok Sabha for five terms, Kaul was arguably the oldest surviving former member of parliament. She was a sister-in-law of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Kaul was inducted into the Union cabinet in 1980 as the minister of state for education with independent charge.

In 1991, she was made Union minister for urban development. In 1995, she became the governor of Himachal Pradesh for around one year.

Sheila Kaul's family had observed her 101st birthday on February 7 this year by holding a thanksgiving Kashmiri 'havan' at her Ghaziabad residence.