Finally unanimity

Following a two-hour meeting on Wednesday, Supreme Court judges have agreed to publicly disclose their assets. The agreement amongst Supreme Court judges goes towards healing a division of opinion in the higher judiciary – certain High Court judges have voluntarily disclosed their assets although the Chief Justice of India had asserted that they had no obligation to do so. As part of the new consensus arrangement arrived at by the collegium of twenty-five judges, their assets will now be disclosed on the Supreme Court’s website..Following a two-hour meeting on Wednesday, Supreme Court judges have agreed to publicly disclose their assets. The agreement amongst Supreme Court judges goes a long way towards healing a division of opinion in the higher judiciary – certain High Court judges have voluntarily disclosed their assets although the Chief Justice of India had asserted that they had no obligation to do so. The Chief Justice’s stand had also received support from Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily..As part of the new consensus arrangement arrived at by the collegium of twenty-five judges, their assets will now be disclosed on the Supreme Court’s website. Since 1997, Supreme Court judges have declared their assets to the Chief Justice of India at the time of their appointment as an apex court judge and every year thereafter – a similar system prevailed in the High Courts..The new consensus is likely to lessen external pressures – one Subhash C. Agrawal had filed an application under the Right to Information Act seeking information on whether the Supreme Court judges had ever disclosed their assets. Similarly, the voluntary nature of the disclosure may also permanently end all hopes of the now-deferred Judges (Assets and Liabilities)Bill, 2009. However, the Bill itself had only required disclosure of assets to the Chief Justices of the various High Courts and the Chief Justice of India – not disclosure to the general public..The Supreme Court’s new policy has met with widespread approval. Former Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee said that the move was “a very good development” and had raised the image of the judiciary. Advocate-activist Prashant Bhushan also welcomed the decision as a step towards disclosure of assets by government servants generally..Chief Justice Balakrishnan had earlier voiced concerns that disclosure requirements should not be used as a weapon to harass judges by disgruntled litigants. However, Justice D.V. Shylendra Kumar of the Karnataka High Court had responded that there were sufficient Constitutional protections to preserve judicial independence. Fali Nariman also reiterated this stand in an editorial, saying, “If only the judges relied on the Constitution of India to protect them, as when they decide individual cases, and disgruntled litigants sometimes make allegations against them, they would have no need for additional protection from government or from Parliament.”