CJI, Supreme Court judges to make asset details public

All 33 Supreme Court judges in New Delhi have resolved to voluntarily make their assets public on the court’s website, as decided in an April 1 meeting. This move, aiming to improve transparency, comes following a recent scandal involving a large cash recovery and past decisions calling for asset disclosure.

Supreme Court NEW DELHI: All 33 sitting judges of the Supreme Court have decided to make their assets public by publishing them on the top court’s website. A resolution was adopted to ensure that this practice will also apply to future judges. "The full court of the Supreme Court 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 SC website said. The decision comes weeks after a large sum of cash was allegedly recovered from the residence of then Delhi high court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma, who was later transferred to the Allahabad high court.

Recent concerns over transparency in the judiciary also influenced the decision. The Supreme Court first agreed to publish judges’ assets in 2009 following public and internal pressure. On August 26 that year, the court decided to share these details on its website.

This 2009 decision was based on an earlier resolution passed in 1997, which required Supreme Court judges to disclose their assets to the Chief Justice of India (CJI). While this disclosure to the CJI was mandatory, making the information public remained optional..