Chief Justice of India, SC judges declare assets

Shedding their reluctance in the face of intense public glare, the Chief Justice of India and all the 21 Supreme Court judges have furnished details of their assets, which will be put on the official website soon.

The details of the assets would be made available on the site may be in a day or two, highly placed sources told PTI.

The decision to make it public was taken last week after CJI K G Balakrishnan and other judges finalised the details of their assets during the Dusshera and Diwali festivals with some of them availing the services of professional chartered accountants for the purpose.

The move comes against the backdrop of criticism from the legal fraternity and general public that the judges of the country's highest court who enjoyed the power of sending people to the gallows cannot fight shy of disclosing their assets to ensure probity in public life.

In a landmark judgment on September 2, the Delhi High Court had upheld a direction of the Central Information Commission (CIC) to the Supreme Court to provide information to an RTI applicant Subhash C Aggarwal as to whether the apex court judges were disclosing their assets to the CJI as mandated by a 1997 resolution.

The high court had held that the CJI and all the Supreme Court judges were covered under the RTI Act vis-à-vis declaration of assets.

It said the CJI is a "public authority" under the RTI Act and information pertaining to assets declaration was given in his capacity as the Chief Justice.

The Supreme Court chose to file an appeal against the high court's order but in the intervening period, which witnessed public debate over the judges' reluctance, the Chief Justice announced that the judges would voluntarily disclose their assets while contending that there was no mandatory provision under the law for them to do so.

The chief justice had initially argued that placing details of their assets in public domain would make the judges vulnerable to witchhunting and harassment by vested interests.

However, sensing the public perception, the judiciary later rescinded from its stand and decided to make details of the assets public.

The high court had observed, "All power -- judicial power being no exception -- is held accountable in a modern Constitution. Holders of power too are expected to live by the standards they set, interpret, or enforce, at least to the extent their office demands," it had said.