Sushil Kumar Modi writes: Judges should declare their assets, too

A significant development took place in 2010, when the government brought in the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, to create a statutory mechanism for enquiring into individual complaints against judges of the high courts and Supreme Court and recommending appropriate action, enabling the declaration of assets and liabilities of judges and laying down judicial standards to be followed by them. This Bill intended to replace the Judges Inquiry Act 1968 while retaining its basic features. However, the Bill lapsed on the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha and thereafter, the government has not thought it prudent to introduce it again.

The Supreme Court has gone to the extent of holding that the public has a right to know the assets of those standing for elections as MPs or MLAs. By similar logic, judges are also public functionaries, and litigants have every right to know such basic information about them. This will repose the confidence and trust of the litigating public in the judicial system.

Given this context, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice thought it appropriate to take up the matter and deliberated on it in detail. It came to the unanimous conclusion that anybody holding public office and drawing a salary from the exchequer should mandatorily furnish annual returns of their property, irrespective of the position that person holds.

Though the resolution of the Supreme Court on the declaration of assets by judges on a voluntary basis stands even today, it is not widely complied with by judges. So, the Committee felt that the government should bring in appropriate legislation to make it mandatory for the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts to furnish their property returns on an annual basis. This can be done either by bringing suitable amendments to the existing Acts — the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act 1958 and High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act 1954 — with regard to mandatory declaration of Assets and Liabilities or by bringing about separate legislation altogether on the matter. Alternatively, the Supreme Court collegium may devise a suitable mechanism which will require the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts to compulsorily furnish the annual returns of their immovable properties every year.

The writer, former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)