Former chief justice of India SH Kapadia passes away

Former Chief Justice of India Sarosh Homi Kapadia (68 years) passed away at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Northern Suburb of Mumbai in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Enrolled as an advocate at the Bombay High Court in 1974, Justice Kapadia was elevated to the Bench as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court in 1991. After being moved to Uttarakhand High Court in 2003 as Chief Justice he was also elevated as the judge in the Supreme Court the same year.

“He came from very humble background and rose to become the Chief Justice of India. Justice Kapadia was very industrious, intelligent yet very humble,” said Milind Sathe, Senior Advocate and President of Bombay Bar Association. “As a young lawyer we used to travel together in local trains to Andheri and used to share food as well,” reminisces Dr Sathe.

Justice Kapadia will perhaps be most remembered for his judgment in the case between British telecom major Vodafone verses Union of India where he held that Indian revenue department did not have territorial jurisdiction to tax offshore transactions. He had also delivered the ruling to cancel all licenses in 2G spectrum case.

He is survived by his wife and one son and a daughter.