CJI favours law on declaration of assets by High Court judges

Chennai, July 25 (PTI) Chief Justice of India (CJI) K
G Balakrishnan on Saturday favoured bringing in a law making
it mandatory for judges of higher courts to declare their
assets and liabilities.

Responding to queries on the proposed Judges Assets
Bill, which is before the cabinet, he said "we have been
already doing it (declaring assets)... judges declare assets
to the Chief Justice of India when they are appointed as
judges. We want it to be made into a law".

Under the proposed bill, High Court judges will have
to disclose their assets and liabilities before the Chief
Justice of their respective High Courts. The High Court Chief
Justices will send details of their assets to the CJI.

"Failure to declare or declaring false details can be
presumed to be a misconduct on the part of the judge and this
can be a ground for the removal of the judge," the CJI told
reporters here.

However, such declarations "are not subject to
provisions of Right to Information (RTI). We don't want judges
to be harassed," he said.

Balakrishnan had recently said there was no need to
put the assets and liabilities of judges in public domain.

Supreme Court judges will have to declare their assets
to the Chief Justice of India, as per the proposed bill. PTI
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