Karnataka judge declares assets online - News

Karnataka judge declares assets online - Indian Express

A judge of the Karnataka High Court, who has favoured public declaration of assets by willing judges, under the Right to Information Act, has put details of his assets and liabilities in the public domain — on a personal website. (http://sites.google.com/site/justdvskumar/asset-particulars)

Justice D V Shylendra Kumar has put up the details of his assets alongside his article, Judges and the Right to Information Act, which contradicted the Chief Justice of India’s observation that judges in general are opposed to being under the purview of RTI.

Following up on the article in The Indian Express last week, Justice Shylendra Kumar had on Monday placed a declaration of his assets before the Registrar General of the Karnataka High Court with instructions to make it available to the public. The Registrar General had on Tuesday said a decision on putting the asset declaration of the judge will have to be taken at a meeting of all the judges of the High Court. On Wednesday afternoon, Justice Shylendra Kumar, who has said that he has been searching for an avenue to declare his assets, put up the details on a personal website http://sites.google.com/site/justdvskumar/asset-particulars. “Particulars of assets of Justice D V Shylendra Kumar, Judge, High Court of Karnataka is being displayed here as the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court has prevented the information from being displayed on the High Court website,” states the introduction to the web document.

As per details put in the public domain by Justice Shylendra Kumar, the sum of the value of properties acquired, bank balances held and investments is Rs 42.86 lakh. A footnote in the declaration says the information “furnished may not be accurate to the pie or to the decimal, but is sufficient to serve the purpose for which it is furnished”. A credit of $15,000 from Justice Shylendra Kumar’s brother to his bank account in July 2008 and a Rs 98,750 worth purchase of shares of a company last year are among the assets declared. He has a 1996 Maruti Zen car. He is the first sitting judge of the Karnataka High Court to put the details of his assets in the public domain.

Times of India - He is the second judge after Justice K Kannan of the Punjab & Haryana High Court to disclose his assets. The latter did so to advocate Prashant Bhushan, convener of a campaign for judicial accountability and reforms.

More on Rediff.com

Supreme Court judges agree to make their assets public - From the Hindu

The judges of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, will make public the statements of assets they declared at the time of their appointment to the Supreme Court and subsequent additions, if any.

This decision was taken on Wednesday at a Full Court meeting, presided over by Justice Balakrishnan. The meeting was a sequel to the CJI’s announcement on Monday that consensus was being evolved on disclosure of assets. Except Justice J.M. Panchal, who was on medical leave, all judges participated in the nearly two-hour deliberations. The sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court is 31 including the CJI. There are eight vacancies at present.

“We have decided in principle to put our assets on the [Supreme Court] website, but regarding the modalities, in what manner or form, we have not yet decided,” authoritative sources told The Hindu. Asked whether there was consensus on making public the assets, the sources said: “Whatever decision we take is only through consensus and we have passed a unanimous resolution. The resolution is to be released after it is signed by all the judges.”

Asked to elaborate, the sources said: “At present, judges disclose their assets to the Chief Justice of India as per the procedure in the 1997 ‘Restatement of values.’ Now it will be put on the website.”

Would such disclosure pertain only to the judge concerned or would it cover members of his family too? “It will be strictly in accordance with the 1997 procedure. Of course, each judge has a different form and we have to see how it can be updated.”

To a question whether Wednesday’s resolution covered High Court judges also, the sources said: “We can’t give any direction to the High Courts. They will have to take independent decisions. However, it is expected that they will follow us.”

The issue of public disclosure of assets by judges came to the fore after Justice D.V. Shylendra Kumar of the Karnataka High Court and Justice K. Kannan of the Punjab and Haryana High Court voluntarily disclosed their assets and made them public.

The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reform has been highlighting the need for transparency and public disclosure of assets by judges, and the Full Court decision is an exercise in that direction.

At present, there is no law governing the declaration of assets by judges. In the recently concluded Parliament session, the government introduced a Bill to make declaration of assets by judges mandatory. But since it contained a clause that such a declaration would not come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act, the Bill was withdrawn. The government has announced that it will be re-introduced in the winter session with amendments.