Their Lordships' Assets - Supreme Court has no supervisory power or control over High Courts – Justice Shylendra
Karnataka High Court Judge, Justice Shylendra in a Newspaper article said,
It is a matter of utmost paradox that the chief justice of the most powerful Supreme Court in the world should be expressing apprehension for the safety and security of the judges of the superior courts in this country by saying that revealing the particulars of assets of the judges and throwing open the information to the public domain may result in harassment to judges and in turn prevent the judges from performing their duties without fear or favour. He has also expressed his fear that this may impair the independence of judges and affect their functioning.
It is equally ironic that the apprehension should have been expressed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court of India, that too in an interview given to a news daily and as the chief justice of the apex court of the country and in the context of the applicability or otherwise of the provisions of the Right to Information Act (RTI Act), a piece of legislation which was commended for legislation by the very Supreme Court in terms of its judgment in Peoples Union for Civil Liberties vs Union of India.
The object of this article is to dispel the most damaging and uncalled for impression created in the minds of the public at large and litigants in particular, that the judges of the superior courts in this country, who enjoy high constitutional protection and immunity, are wary of disclosing their assets or are not prepared to throw open the information relating to the acquisition and holding of their assets to the public domain; that they would rather prefer to keep the information well-guarded and also cover up a possible misdeed or a possible improper acquisition of assets and would like to avoid either scrutiny or an explanation, if one was needed in respect of their asset holdings.
It is fair to say that the views expressed by the Chief Justice of India are not necessarily representative of the views of all the judges of the superior courts of this country. In fact, the Supreme Court of our country has no supervisory power or control over the high courts in the scheme of our Constitution. High courts are independent and function in accordance with the constitutional provisions and in terms of the applicable statutory provisions. The Supreme Court only exercises appellate jurisdiction over the high courts in specified areas as provided for under the Constitution and the laws. The law declared by the Supreme Court is binding on all the courts - it is a constitutional mandate in terms of Article 141 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has also the most exclusive power in passing such decrees and making such orders as are necessary for doing complete justice between litigants in any cause or matter before it and it is to be enforced throughout the territory of India in the manner prescribed by law. Other than such a constitutional provision and subject to these very constitutional provisions, the high courts function independently.
Hitherto, it is only the opinion of the Chief Justice of India that is expressed in public and the Chief Justice of India is the person, who has been reacting to the doubts and queries of the people as articulated in different sections of the media. No one else from the judiciary has expressed any opinion to the contrary and silence in such a situation obviously amounts to consent or agreement! And yet, the fact of the matter is that judges of the superior courts of this country are not reluctant and hesitant to declare their assets. On the other hand, a majority of them must be ready and willing to do so. There should be no question of any judge either hiding or taking shelter under any non-disclosure provision or under a provision to ensure confidentiality or secrecy of the information. The protection provided to the judges of the superior courts under the Constitution itself is good enough and sufficient to ensure the independence of the judiciary and fearless functioning of the judges. There is absolutely no question of any other person or any other organ creating a sense of apprehension, fear or possible harassment in the minds of the judges by use or misuse of any information that one may come across or might fall into the hands of the litigant public of this country.
An article of this nature, which is otherwise not common or usual for a judge to pen, has become necessary only to convey to the people of this country that the impression created as of now is not necessarily the correct impression; that the judges of the superior courts of this country do not necessarily subscribe to the views and apprehensions expressed hitherto; that they have views and opinions otherwise than what has been conveyed to the public at large so far. The judges have nothing to fear; they have nothing to hide and they have no hesitation to disclose particulars of their assets and even for throwing open the information to the public domain. In fact, it is for the judges of this country to act and provide information even voluntarily. Indeed, I humbly appeal to all my brother and sister judges of the superior courts to do so. No inhibition need deter us from this path.
And the Hon'ble CJI says, “He wants publicity and such a thing is not good for a judge. Judges should not be publicity-crazy."
And Senior Advocate Harish Salve said that he agreed with Justice Kumar's view that judges should publicly declare their assets, but his criticism of the Chief Justice was not in order.
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