Editorial: Boosting judicial accountability

Making it mandatory to disclose assets at all levels of the judiciary is in the interest of transparency and probity

One of the biggest dangers to the constitutional institutions in a democracy is the opacity of their functioning. Judiciary is a key pillar of democracy that needs to be accessible and accountable to the people. Transparency is what makes the justice delivery system more effective and responsive. Opaque, obscure and inaccessible systems, however well-intended they may be, will only result in erosion of public faith and widen the gulf. The first step towards a broader set of judicial reforms must begin with ensuring the probity of judges. In this regard, the Supreme Court’s latest decision to disclose the assets of all its judges is a welcome move as it goes a long way in improving transparency in the judiciary. The details of properties owned by the judges of the apex court will be put on the court’s website. The move comes weeks after the recovery of a stash of unaccounted money from the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma, who was then a judge of the Delhi High Court. Against the backdrop of this unsavoury incident causing acute embarrassment to the judiciary, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna’s decision sends the right signal that the judiciary is serious about creating institutional mechanisms of accountability. As per the current practice, the declaration of assets is only a voluntary option for the judges. There is a need to make this mandatory at all levels in the judiciary in the interests of transparency and probity.

In 1997, the apex court made the first attempt to encourage the judges to disclose all assets to the Chief Justice, including the ones in the names of their spouses or their dependents. However, this guideline was not followed. Again, in 2009, the apex court decided to post asset disclosures of judges on its official website. In the same year, the Delhi High Court too agreed to make the assets of judges publicly available. The majority of judges have not voluntarily disclosed their assets in spite of these steps, which could have set a benchmark for transparency and honesty. The Parliamentary Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, in its 2023 report, suggested a law that would require judges of the Supreme Court and High Court to file yearly asset returns and create clear guidelines for asset disclosure. The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Bill, which was passed by Parliament in 2014, was subsequently struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015 as unconstitutional. The Commission, which had near-unanimity in Parliament, gave the government a decisive say in the appointment of judges. Now, almost a decade later, the discovery of wads of currency at Justice Varma’s house has re-ignited the debate over judicial accountability. Experts have suggested that India must undertake sweeping reforms, including mandatory asset declarations, to restore public trust in the judiciary.

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