November 21, 2024

Judges And Their Assets

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-08-09 07:14:10

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

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The parliamentary standing committee on law and justice has recommended that it should be made mandatory for Supreme Court and High Court judges to declare their assets. As of now, it is voluntary on their part, but most of the judges do not make such declaration. With less than 20% of such judges declaring their assets voluntarily at any given point of time, the moral obligation does not cut ice with them despite Resolution 1997 asking them to do so.

The case for making it mandatory for judges to declare their assets is strong. For, any one holding an office of trust must always, for reasons of transparency and credibility, put in public domain how much they (including their spouses and dependants) are worth to ascertain if their assets match their known sources of income.

While it is no one's case to allege that all judges are corrupt and given to increase their net worth through unfair means, it is also true that a strong incentive to do so exists. Hence, it is necessary that judges declare their assets to show that they are living within their means. Although judges might place themselves on a pedestal higher than politicians and bureaucrats, the fact remains that they hold an office of trust and must be above suspicion. They must not only be pure but also appear to be so.

Hence, since Resolution 1997 is not being taken seriously and most of the judges are not voluntarily declaring their assets, the government must act upon the recommendation of the parliamentary standing committee and revive the Judicial Standards & Accountability Bill (that was passed by the Lok Sabha in 2012 but lapsed as the then government did not place it in the Rajya Sabha) to make it mandatory for judges to declare their assets.