CJI, Supreme Court judges to make asset details public

NEW DELHI: All 33 sitting judges of the Supreme Court have decided to make their assets public by publishing them on the top court’s website.

A resolution was adopted to ensure that this practice will also apply to future judges.

The decision comes weeks after a large sum of cash was allegedly recovered from the residence of then Delhi high court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma, who was later transferred to the Allahabad high court.

The Supreme Court first agreed to publish judges’ assets in 2009. On August 26 that year, the court decided to share these details on its website.

This 2009 decision was based on an earlier resolution passed in 1997, which required Supreme Court judges to disclose their assets to the Chief Justice of India (CJI). While this disclosure to the CJI was mandatory, making the information public remained optional.