Should Judges declare their assets?

Should Judges declare their assets?

This is quite an interesting question. But noone has yet come up with an answer which is satisfactory. Though the question seems so simple, the answer to it is indeed a challenge.
In India, the laws are interpreted as per every individual’s convenience and this leads to debates, arguments, disorder etc.

Coming to the subject should the judges declare their assets, the answer if you ask me would be yes. I’ll be addressing the reasons for my answer in detail in this post.

Firstly, Judges being the citizens of India the Laws of India are very well applicable to them. Let’s examine the laws under which the Judges are compelled to declare their assets. The supreme law of the land being the Constitution of India is applicable to every citizen of India. No law is above the Constitution. So naturally it applies to the Judges too.
Ø Article 14 of the constitution, guarantees equality before law and equal protection of laws. Therefore all citizens are equal before law and Judges are no exemption to it and therefore can’t be exempt from their duty.
Ø Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution of India guarantees Freedom of speech and expression. Now one might wonder what is the connection between speech and expression and judges declaring their assets… There is.
The Supreme Court has held in the case of S.P.Gupta v. Union of India, that Article 19(1)(a) also includes right to information. The prerequisite for enjoying this right is knowledge and information. The absence of authentic information on matters of public interest will only encourage wild rumours and speculations and avoidable allegations against individuals and institutions. Therefore, the Right to Information becomes a constitutional right, being an aspect of the right to free speech and expression which includes the right to receive and collect information. A fully informed citizen will certainly be better equipped for the performance of their duties. Thus, right to information being part of Constitution becomes the supreme law of the land and so as per the Right to information Act, 2005 any citizen of India can ask for any information on any public authorities and it is mandatory for every public authority to make available the information to the public. Now, comes the question who are public authorities? Do judges fall under that category? The Right to Information Act, 2005 defines a Public Authority as follows –
“public authority" means any authority or body or institution of self- government established or constituted-
(a) by or under the Constitution;
(b) by any other law made by Parliament;
(c) by any other law made by State Legislature;
(d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government,
and includes any-
(i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed;
(ii) non-Government organisation substantially financed,
directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;
Going by the above definition, Judges also fall under the category of public authorities. But there have been numerous debates as to whether the judges fall under the category of public authorities or not. The issue is yet to be resolved by the government.

Leaving aside the above mentioned laws, the government of India has been trying to introduce a Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill, 2009. The introduction of the bill had to be deferred by the government as clause 6 of the said bill is in clear violation of Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution and goes against the Supreme Court judgment on S.P.Gupta v. Union of India. Issues are still pending to be resolved. Now we are left with no option but to wait for the introduction of this bill by the government.

Apart from the above mentioned laws, the CJI is also of the opinion that the judges must declare their assets to their superior authorities but it shouldn’t be made public as it intervenes with their security and privacy. The CJI has given his personal opinion but going by the laws the judges have no special exemptions but to declare their assets.

The Government shouldn’t delay this issue any more. It should introduce the Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill, 2009 after making necessary amendments to clause 6 and concentrate on issues that concern nation’s security and progress.