Govt says no plans for law requiring SC, HC judges to disclose assets

The government on Thursday told the Rajya Sabha that it had no plans to bring a law mandating Supreme Court and high court judges to furnish their property returns, as recommended by a parliamentary committee.

In a written reply, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal also said that details of the declaration of assets by the judges of high courts and the Supreme Court were not centrally maintained.

The minister replied in the negative to a sub-question on "whether the government is contemplating to enact a law mandating judges of the higher judiciary to furnish their property returns as recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee in its report titled 'Judicial Processes and their Reform' of August, 2023".

At the same time, the minister said the "Restatement of Values of Judicial Life", adopted by a "full court" meeting of the Supreme Court on May 7, 1997, laid down certain judicial standards to be followed by the Supreme Court and high court judges.

The full bench on August 26, 2009, decided to disclose the statement of assets submitted by the judges on the basis of a resolution to make it public by putting it on the Supreme Court website.

"Further, the full court, in its meeting dated September 8, 2009, resolved to put the declaration of assets on the Supreme Court website on or before October 31, 2009, and that is purely on a voluntary basis," he underlined.