Chief Justice of India, 20 SC judges declare assets

Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan and 20 other judges of the Supreme Court on Monday made public their assets. 

The assets of Justice B N Agrawal, who retired on 15^thOctober, were also declared on the website on his special request, the apex court website said.

"The above declaration of assets is purely on voluntary basis," the website said.

However, the details of the assets of Justice H S Bedi were not available.

The Supreme Court judges made their assets public exactly two months after the Delhi High Court on 2^nd September held that the office of the CJI falls under the RTI Act and disclosure of assets of the apex court judges to him could be made public.

While the matter was pending before a Single Judge Bench, the Supreme Court judges had agreed to voluntarily declare their assets on the official website.

The CJI on 28^th August had said that under the changed circumstances, all the judges, in an unanimous decision have agreed to disclose their assets.

"We are strictly following the May 7, 1997 resolution. The only thing is that we are not disclosing it to the public. Now because of the changed circumstances, we will put it on the website," Balakrishnan had said.

He had said the disclosure would be strictly in accordance with the 1997 resolution and the assets relating to real estate and investments made even in the name of dependents would be put on the website.

However, the Supreme Court Registry on 5^th October challenged the verdict of the Single Bench contending that all the information that the CJI has in his official capacity cannot be revealed under the Right to Information Act.

The division bench headed by Delhi High Court Chief Justice A P Shah has fixed 12^th and 13^th November to hear the appeal.

SC Judges declaring assets excellent gesture: Moily

Law Minister M Veerappa Moily has termed as "an excellent gesture" the decision of Supreme Court judges to declare their assets in public and said this proved the integrity of Indian judiciary was the "highest".

"It is not their (judiciary) intention to hide anything. But there are some issues. Even then, making it (assets) available to public is an excellent gesture on the part of the judiciary," Moily said.

He said the move proved the integrity of the judiciary was the "highest" and they would like to keep it up.

Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan and 20 other judges of the Supreme Court on Monday made public their assets by putting it on the website of the apex court.

The government was forced to defer the Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill, 2009, earlier this year in Rajya Sabha after the Opposition took strong objection to a provision in the Bill which states that High Court and Supreme Court Judges would declare their assets but the same would not be made public.