He was appointed as the Chief Justice of India on May 12, 2010, by the President of India (Pratibha Patil). He was succeeded by Altamas Kabir as the Chief Justice of India on September 28, 2012. He was also the 2nd Chief Justice of Uttarakhand, and held the office from August 5, 2003, to December 17, 2003.

S. H. Kapadia was born in 1947, in Mumbai. He completed his law education from Government Law College in Mumbai. He started his career in law as the Class IV employee. And after a struggle on September 10, 1974, he joined Bombay High Court as an Advocate. Then, on October 8, 1991, Kapadia was appointed as the Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court. Later, on March 23, 1993, he became the permanent judge at Bombay High Court. After a while, he was appointed as the Chief Justice of India, as well as, he was the Chairman of the General Council of the ‘Gujarat National Law University’ as well as he was the visiting member of the ‘National Law School of India University’.

As the Chief Justice of India, he is most remembered for his verdict over the 2G case, Vodafone, Sahara, and Salwa Judum. As well as, he has given the path braking judgment relating to the succession of property on April 30, 2005, in which he ruled out the possibility of conducting the DNA test. He was also the member of 3 member bench of Supreme Court which decided the PIL filed by two NDA leaders for allowing the cancellation of bail of RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi for seeking the relaxation over the case of Disproportionate Assets (DA) and Income Tax cases against both of them.