New Delhi, Aug 27 (Inditop.com) The legal fraternity Thursday welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court judges to make public their assets and put up the information on the website of the apex court for scrutiny.
“In the end, it is better late than never. I think the decision will further increase the confidence of the public in the institution of the judiciary,” said former attorney general Soli Sorabjee.
Retired Supreme Court judge Justice K.N. Saikia welcomed the decision but said it was difficult to prescribe a benchmark for judges’ assets.
“I welcome the decision. But we have to see that the wealth of all honourable judges in the apex court may not be equal. Some judges before being elevated to the Supreme Court may have earned a lot of assets while there may be some who would not have earned so much. Therefore, it is difficult to prescribe a standard,” he said.
According to lawyer Rebecca Mammen, this was a step that was “long overdue”.
“The judiciary is responsible for upholding rule of law in the country and if they were reluctant, it was a great tragedy. It should have been done at the first instance but I am thankful they agreed to it now,” she said.
“It is a good thing and a step taken in the right direction,” said Nitya Ramakrishnan, another Supreme Court lawyer.
The apex court took the decision Wednesday at a full court meeting of its judges presided over by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan.
The judges passed a resolution that the details of their assets, which are already available with the office of the chief justice of India in varying formats, would be tabulated in a uniform format and placed on the apex court website at the earliest.
The meeting that lasted for over two hours saw unanimous consensus that this should be done at the earliest, sources said.
The judges felt that as they had already been declaring the assets to the chief justice of India, they hardly had anything to hide.
Accordingly, there was no point in giving an impression that the judicial fraternity of the apex court was against disclosing their assets, the sources said.
