Madras HC also decides to disclose assets of judges on its website

By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai

CHENNAI, 03 Septmber (asiantribune.com): The Madras High Court has followed those of the Karnataka, Bombay, Delhi, Kerala and Punjab and Haryana High Courts in deciding to disclose the assets of the sitting judges on their websites.

A Full Court of Madras High Court that met this evening, chaired by Chief Justice H L Gokhale, decided to declare the assets of its Judges. The full court meeting decided to submit its judges assets to the Chief Justice before October 31. Latter it will be published in the official website of the Madras High Court.

All the judges, located in Chennai who participated in the meeting, debated the issue before, and took the decision on disclosure of assets in the public domain, such as the court's official website.

The administrative committee, comprising the top seven judges of the court had already discussed the issue on Tuesday.

It was the Supreme Court's resolution in 1997 that flouted the idea of declaration of assets, and the same was circulated to all high courts. It was adopted by the Madras High Court only in 2008; when Mr. Justice A P Shah was the chief justice of the court.

Although judges of the high courts have been declaring assets to their respective chief justices, as required by the resolution, details are not put in the public domain for common perusal and transparency.

The Bombay High Court decided on Tuesday to follow suit, following a meeting by the full court after which the Registrar General formally made the announcement on Wednesday. Registrar General A I Cheema said the decision has been taken and the modalities will be decided in due course. . The registrar-general of the Kerala High Court even specified that the details would be posted at the site on September 30.

Karnataka judge’s action, a domino effect

The Karnataka High Court decided the same on Tuesday, following Justice D V Shylendra Kumar voluntarily deciding to disclose his assets to the Registrar General of the court that had a domino effect. On Wednesday, he also put up the details of his assets and liabilities (that he had submitted to the High Court Registrar General on Monday, on a website.

A note on the site stated that the particulars of assets of Justice Shylendra Kumar, were being displayed on the site as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court had prevented the information from being displayed on the High Court website. According to the information posted on the website, Justice Shylendra Kumar owns assets worth Rs 50.38 lakh.

Under pressure of a growing public opinion and with a couple of High Court judges already declaring their assets, the Supreme Court judges decided last month to post the details of their assets on the website of the court. The Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan had announced that members of higher judiciary are free to declare their assets. The CJI had said that he has the right to speak on behalf of all judges as head of the judiciary.

Chief Justice of India Justice K G Balakrishnan, however, had formally announced on August 28 that SC judges, who had been following the May 7, 1997 resolutions scrupulously, had now decided to put the details of their assets on the Supreme Court website. He, however, said high courts could adopt on their own their stand on the issue.

Responding to a question on declaration of judges' assets during a recent conference of apex court judges, Balakrishnan had said: "At the time of their appointment, every Supreme Court judge has to declare his assets. Thereafter, if any property is purchased, he has to give the information to me in a sealed cover."
"This must be the case with High Court judges (who would furnish the information to the chief justice of the high court concerned)," he added.

What legal luminaries say

The Bar Association of India (BAI) also wants declaration of assets by judges, saying that it would enhance their dignity greatly.

"There are statutory provisions in the US apex court on disclosure of assets by judges. There is an urgent need that such provision should be implemented in India, too," the BAI had said recently in a statement.

Former chief justices of India J S Verma and V N Khare too had supported the idea of declaration of assets by high court judges.

Top legal minds welcomed the decision to make public judges’ assets after initial reluctance saying “it is better late then never”.

Meanwhile, senior Supreme Court advocate Shanti Bhushan believes if more judges disclose their assets then the people's faith in the judiciary will be restored.
“It is a step in the right direction as it will restore the people's faith. People will be expecting that those judges who have nothing to hide will come forward and declare their personal wealth, this way people can scrutinise how much wealth they have,” Bhushan said
Former Attorney General and Constitutional expert Soli J Sorabjee said: “it is a very good decision taken by the judges. I think it is a very good development. It’s better late than never.” He added that the judges have heeded the views of former chief justices and senior advocates who were also very keen to maintain the image of the judiciary.

“I am sure their initial reluctance not to declare assets was not because they had anything to hide. They had misgivings that it may be misused,” he said.

Sorabjee also said the decision will raise the stature of the judiciary in public eye. “It raises the stature and image of the judiciary and what is more it reinforces the confidence of the litigants in the supreme judiciary.”

Agreeing with Sorabjee, advocate Prashant Bhushan, who had launched a campaign on the issue, said it would also now encourage the judges of the high courts to make public their assets.

“It is an absolutely welcome move and I am sure it will also encourage the judges of the high courts to publicly declare their assets and force the government to put up assets of government servants on public website which can be accessed by the people,”Bhushan said.

Senior advocate K K Venugopal termed the decision as “excellent”.

“I think it is the greatest steps that the judiciary could take because it has cleared all the clouds which have been hanging over the issue,” he said.