• The Supreme Court's move towards judges declaring assets has a history of resolutions and varying levels of compliance; while the recent announcement and website updates suggest progress, the declarations remain voluntary, unlike the public disclosure of assets by Union ministers.

In the wake of cash being found in the house of a former Delhi High Court Judge, Supreme Court announced that all judges would declare their assets.   Hindustan Times 33 Judges of SC resolve to publicly declare assets

I visited the SC site on 16/4/25 at 10 am and found, “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.” 30 judges made declaration. Unlike before, I could not find any declaration PDF on SC site in the ‘Assets Judges’ section.

Read  Mandatory declaration of assets by judges will increase transparency

This expression of intent might seem like a positive change! But is so? Let us look at the background of assets declaration-

In 1997 a “full court meeting of the Supreme Court resolved that every judge should make a declaration of all his/her assets in the form of real estate or investments (held by him/her in his/her own name or in the name of his/her spouse or any person dependent on him/her) within a reasonable time of assuming office, and thereafter whenever any acquisition of a substantial nature is made, it shall be disclosed within a reasonable time.”

Utkarsh Anand wrote in HT, “On September 8, 2009, the Supreme Court clarified that while judges were encouraged to declare their assets publicly, it would not be mandatory.”

From an earlier article, in October 2017 14 out of 25 SC judges declared their assets. The number in June 2021 was 1 out of 25. See table below.

Number of SC Judges who declared their assets as of 13/6/2021 

If the assets and liabilities of the Union council of ministers (2013-14) are in public domain, why not of SC judges? Business Standard reported on 14/4/25 ‘Only 12% of HC Judges declared Assets’

While researching for an earlier article, I visited SC site on 1.3.2023 at 3.40 pm and found no voluntary declarations. 

The reason is because the disclosure of any personal information under Right to Information Act will be decided on a case-by-case basis and after assessing whether it serves public interest. Personal information includes assets and liabilities of judges. Alok Prasanna Kumar, Senior Resident Fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, wrote in Hindustan Times ‘Door to greater transparency for courts is now shut’.  

“The respondent Subhash Chandra Agarwal, asked – do judges of the SC declare their assets as they undertook to in accordance with a 1997 resolution? That this question was itself so strenuously resisted tells you about the court’s approach to transparency then and now. Even after the Central Information Commission and two benches of the Delhi high court agreed that the CJI’s office should be required to answer this question, it is only now, more than ten years later that a definitive answer has come from the court: yes it must.”

Should the Government of India make declaration of assets mandatory for all those who receive salary/pension from the Consolidated Fund of India?

While the jury is out on this, here are proposed Guidelines for Declaration of Assets and Liabilities by Judges of Supreme & High Courts. 

1. It should be of judge and spouse.

2. It should be dated.

3. It should be signed by Judge and given to CJI within 60 days of appointment.

4. It should give date on which appointment notified by Central government.

5. It should be filed every three years and remove subjectivity like, “any acquisition of a substantial nature is made, to the Chief Justice.”

6. For immovable assets it should give acquisition price and current market price.

7. Where property is inherited it should say so against each asset.

8. Assets should be classified under Movable and Immovable Properties.

9. It should have a separate column for Cash in Hand.

10. Format for declaration should be standardised across SC/High Courts.

11. Declaration should be uploaded on SC/HC sites within 30 days of receipt by CJI.

12. If declaration not seen on SC/HC websites within 180 days of appointment, the Judge shall voluntarily resign.

13. Judge can appeal to SC collegium to reconsider resignation if the delay is not due his negligence.

14. If the SC collegium decides to re-appoint judge it shall be treated as a fresh appointment for deciding seniority, pension etc.

15. If payment is made for any immovable property acquired during the financial year it should be reported when the property is in the name of the judge or family. Here family would include spouse, son or daughter. (Not in FE article)

16. The judge should sign a declaration, ‘The above information is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.’ (Not in FE article)

These are some humble suggestions from an aam aadmi.

Can independence of the judiciary be a reason for not disclosing asset details?

In public life, perception is as important as reality. Thus, it is imperative for the judiciary to be perceived to be above board.

Author    is a Senior Chartered Accountant and founder www.esamskriti.com

(The purpose of this article is to provoke thought and not cast aspersions on the judiciary. If there is any error, it is inadvertent and not intended to defame or spoil the name of any individual judge or judiciary at large.)

First published in Financial Express and Here

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