Supreme Court judges to declare assets amid row over cash at Justice Varma’s house

Amid raging debate over judicial accountability following alleged recovery of a huge amount of cash at Justice Yashwant Varma’s house in the national capital, all 33 judges of the Supreme Court have unanimously decided to declare their assets.

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The decision was taken in a Full Court meeting of the Supreme Court judges on April 1, sources said, adding, it would bind both current and future judges.

In a shift from the current practice of making it public on a voluntary basis, now declaration of judges’ assets would be mandatorily placed on the Supreme Court’s website, they said. Modalities for publishing the assets were being worked out, they added.

The decision taken at the initiative of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna is seen as a measure towards transparency in judiciary in the backdrop of the controversy surrounding the alleged discovery of a huge pile of cash during a fire incident on March 14 at the residence of Delhi High Court Judge Yashwant Varma, who has since been transferred to the Allahabad High Court. The Allahabad High Court Chief Justice has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma for the time being.

Last month, the CJI had also made public an in-house fact finding report of Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Justice Upadhyaya into the alleged recovery of cash at Justice Varma’s residence. The CJI has set up a three-member committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into the allegations against Justice Varma.

There is already a 1997 Full Court resolution requiring the Supreme Court judges to declare their assets to the CJI. “Every judge should make a declaration of all assets in the form of real estate or investment held in their names, in the name of their spouses or any other person dependent on them, to the Chief Justice,” it stated.

Following mounting public pressure, the Supreme Court judges for the first time decided to make public their assets on the court website in 2009. However, the September 2009 Full Court resolution made it voluntary. In case of high court judges, it is required to be submitted to the Chief Justice of the high court concerned.

At present, 30 judges, including the CJI, have declared their assets but the same has not been uploaded on the top court’s website.

Former law minister Ashwani Kumar welcomed the Supreme Court judges’ willingness to subject themselves to public scrutiny “as far as the sources of their wealth is concerned”, terming it a step towards judicial transparency.

“At a time when suggestions about judicial impropriety are becoming louder, and popular faith in the judiciary is shaken, this symbolic gesture by the judges of the nation’s highest court will help in restoring the credibility of the judicial institution. The judges of the court presided over by Chief Justice Khanna deserve full credit for living up to the high standards of probity expected of them,” Kumar said.

“By voluntarily deciding to make information about their assets public, the judges have strengthened their credentials as the nation’s final arbiters of justice, particularly because their authority is derived from their unquestionable moral and intellectual integrity,” the former law minister said.

“The Justice Yashwant Varma episode has validated the proposition that significant events trigger historic changes. Opening judicial assets to public scrutiny is such a development. It is necessary, however, to ensure that the information is not abused to compromise judicial independence,” Kumar said.