CIC to decide if details of judges’ assets
covered under RTI
Are details of assets owned by the Supreme Court and high courts covered under the Right to Information Act?
The tricky question, which can have a bearing on issues related to judicial transparency, will be heard in two separate full Bench hearings of the Central Information Commission on October 20.
In a public notice, the commission has invited comments from individuals and organisations on the issue and asked them to give their written submissions on or before October 17.
The question is linked to an RTI plea of Subhash Aggarwal who had sought information about a resolution passed by a full-court meeting of Supreme Court Judges in 1997 on declaration of assets by judges.
The resolution required “every judge to make a declaration of all assets in the form of real estate or investments held in their name or their spouse and any other person dependent on them to the Chief Justice.”
Aggarwal wanted to know if such a declaration of assets had ever been filed by judges of the Supreme Court before the Chief Justice of India and high court judges before Chief Justices of respective states.
The chief public information officer of the Supreme Court while denying to provide any details said the information was not with or held by the registry of the Supreme Court of India.
In a separate request, Aggarwal asked from the Department of Personnel and
Training if judges of the Supreme Court and high courts were covered under
the RTI Act.
