Indian Express: New Delhi: Tuesday,
17 September 2024.
As many as 27 of the current
33 judges of the Supreme Court have declared their assets and liabilities to
the Chief Justice of India, according to an update last month on the official
website of the Supreme Court.
Their names have been released but their asset declarations are absent.
This comes over a year after the Parliament’s Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, and Law and Justice had recommended legislation for mandatory disclosure of assets and liabilities of judges of Supreme Court and High Court.
Significantly, until a few months ago, declarations of 55 former judges of the Supreme Court were available in the public domain but not of sitting judges. Those declarations are now missing.
When contacted, a Supreme Court official told The Indian Express that the change on the website was made on August 7. “The records of those who have demitted office was removed. Further, when a judge takes oath of office, a declaration of assets is made and records are maintained by the SC office. However, public disclosure is purely on a voluntary basis,” the official said.
Prefacing the list of names, the SC website states: “The Full Court of the Supreme Court of India had resolved that Judges should make a declaration of their assets on assuming office and whenever any acquisition of a substantial nature is made, to the Chief Justice. This also includes declaration(s) by the Chief Justice of India. Placing the declaration of assets on the Supreme Court website will be on a voluntary basis.”
The judges who have declared their assets, as per the website: CJI Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice B R Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice Hrishikesh Roy, Justice Abhay S. Oka, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice J K Maheshwari, Justice B V Nagarathna, Justice M. M. Sundresh, Justice Bela M.Trivedi, Justice P S Narasimha, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, Justice J B Pardiwala, Justice Dipankar Datta, Justice Pankaj Mithal, Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice Sanjay Kumar, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Justice Manoj Misra, Justice Aravind Kumar, Justice K.V. Viswanathan, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, Justice S. Venkatanarayana Bhatti, Justice Augustine George Masih, Justice Sandeep Mehta, and Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale.
On August 28 last year, The Indian Express had filed an application under the Right to Information Act asking for details of judges who have not declared their assets in 2022-2024 and official correspondence on the matter.
The SC’s Central Public Information Officer replied that the information asked for was exempted under the RTI Act. On an appeal filed against this, the First Appellate Authority said: “The reply sent by the CPIO is appropriate and does not need any further addition or further elaboration.”
Incidentally, on September 8, 2009, the full bench of the Supreme Court had resolved to declare their assets on the court’s website on or before October 31, 2009 adding that it was “purely on a voluntary basis.” The assets of judges were posted on the website but this practice stopped after March 31, 2018.
On December 11 last year, BJP MP and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law late Sushil Kumar Modi had said that, like MPs, MLAs and all-India service officers, judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts should have to mandatorily disclose their assets.
On November 13, 2019, a Supreme Court Constitution Bench, headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi (Other members of the bench included Justices NV Ramana, DY Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna) had ruled that the office of Chief Justice of India is a public authority under RTI Act and said that “…right to information should not be allowed to be used as a tool of surveillance to scuttle effective functioning of judiciary.”
Their names have been released but their asset declarations are absent.
This comes over a year after the Parliament’s Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, and Law and Justice had recommended legislation for mandatory disclosure of assets and liabilities of judges of Supreme Court and High Court.
Significantly, until a few months ago, declarations of 55 former judges of the Supreme Court were available in the public domain but not of sitting judges. Those declarations are now missing.
When contacted, a Supreme Court official told The Indian Express that the change on the website was made on August 7. “The records of those who have demitted office was removed. Further, when a judge takes oath of office, a declaration of assets is made and records are maintained by the SC office. However, public disclosure is purely on a voluntary basis,” the official said.
Prefacing the list of names, the SC website states: “The Full Court of the Supreme Court of India had resolved that Judges should make a declaration of their assets on assuming office and whenever any acquisition of a substantial nature is made, to the Chief Justice. This also includes declaration(s) by the Chief Justice of India. Placing the declaration of assets on the Supreme Court website will be on a voluntary basis.”
The judges who have declared their assets, as per the website: CJI Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice B R Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice Hrishikesh Roy, Justice Abhay S. Oka, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice J K Maheshwari, Justice B V Nagarathna, Justice M. M. Sundresh, Justice Bela M.Trivedi, Justice P S Narasimha, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, Justice J B Pardiwala, Justice Dipankar Datta, Justice Pankaj Mithal, Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice Sanjay Kumar, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Justice Manoj Misra, Justice Aravind Kumar, Justice K.V. Viswanathan, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, Justice S. Venkatanarayana Bhatti, Justice Augustine George Masih, Justice Sandeep Mehta, and Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale.
On August 28 last year, The Indian Express had filed an application under the Right to Information Act asking for details of judges who have not declared their assets in 2022-2024 and official correspondence on the matter.
The SC’s Central Public Information Officer replied that the information asked for was exempted under the RTI Act. On an appeal filed against this, the First Appellate Authority said: “The reply sent by the CPIO is appropriate and does not need any further addition or further elaboration.”
Incidentally, on September 8, 2009, the full bench of the Supreme Court had resolved to declare their assets on the court’s website on or before October 31, 2009 adding that it was “purely on a voluntary basis.” The assets of judges were posted on the website but this practice stopped after March 31, 2018.
On December 11 last year, BJP MP and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law late Sushil Kumar Modi had said that, like MPs, MLAs and all-India service officers, judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts should have to mandatorily disclose their assets.
On November 13, 2019, a Supreme Court Constitution Bench, headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi (Other members of the bench included Justices NV Ramana, DY Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna) had ruled that the office of Chief Justice of India is a public authority under RTI Act and said that “…right to information should not be allowed to be used as a tool of surveillance to scuttle effective functioning of judiciary.”
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