CJI favours law on declaration of assets by HC judges
Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan today favoured bringing in a law making it mandatory for judges of higher courts to declare their assets and liabilities. "We have been already doing it (declaring assets)... judges declare assets to the Chief Justice of India when they are appointed as judges. We want it to be made into a law," he said.
Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan today favoured bringing in a law making it mandatory for judges of higher courts to declare their assets and liabilities.
Responding to queries on the proposed Judges Assets Bill, which is before the cabinet, he said "we have been already doing it (declaring assets)... judges declare assets to the Chief Justice of India when they are appointed as judges. We want it to be made into a law".
Under the proposed bill, High Court judges will have to disclose their assets and liabilities before the Chief Justice of their respective High Courts. The High Court Chief Justices will send details of their assets to the CJI.
"Failure to declare or declaring false details can be presumed to be a misconduct on the part of the judge and this can be a ground for the removal of the judge," the CJI told reporters here.
However, such declarations "are not subject to provisions of Right to Information (RTI). We don't want judges to be harassed," he said.
Balakrishnan had recently said there was no need to put the assets and liabilities of judges in public domain.
Supreme Court judges will have to declare their assets to the Chief Justice of India, as per the proposed bill.
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