SC details assets of 21 judges, including CJI, and their kin

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court has put asset details of its judges, their spouses and dependents in the public domain and, so far, 21 out of 33 judges, including the Chief Justice, have declared their wealth. The information has been put up on the apex court's website.

In what is seen as a fallout of the 'cash-at-kothi' scandal, the SC full court had resolved that judges should make a declaration of their assets on assuming office and of significant acquisitions subsequently to the CJI.

All the declarations will be mandatorily put on the apex court's website.

The step will rank as one of the most important achievements of CJI Sanjiv Khanna 's six-month tenure that gets over on May 13.

Over the years, the apex court had been shying away from putting the information in the public domain, even though judges have declaring these details to the Chief Justice since 1997 under an internal resolution.

Many judges don't own cars, prefer assured-return schemes

A glance at the asset details of judges throws up some interesting facts about their investment preferences, with few preferring to invest in shares and mutual funds. Some of them don't own any car, perhaps because they are provided with official vehicles.

Also, at a time when an increasing number of people are investing in shares and mutual funds, most SC judges seem to consider schemes with assured returns - fixed deposits in banks and PPF - a better option.

Their investments have largely been in real estate and jewellery. Bank fixed deposits, LIC policies, PPF and GPF are also preferred options. Apart from risk-aversion, the judges could be keeping a safe distance from the markets also because of disputes among corporate houses that they have to adjudicate and the anxiety to avoid possible 'conflict of interest' situations. They have also declared their liabilities and many of them have taken home loans. Justice Sanjay Kumar mentioned a Pearl River piano as one of his prized possessions.

Two judges - Justices P S Narasimha and K V Viswanathan, who had flourishing practice as lawyers before being directly elevated as SC judges - provided details of income tax returns which reflected their high earnings as advocates. Justice Narasimha paid Rs 31.5 crore as tax since 2008 when he was designated as senior advocate. He was elevated as an SC judge in Aug 2021. Justice Viswanathan paid Rs 91.4 crore as tax since 2010-11. He was designated senior advocate in 2009 and joined SC in 2023.

For many judges, Maruti Swift was a preferred option. Those owning Swift included the CJI and Justices Bela Trivedi, Ujjal Bhuyan and A G Masih. As per the data, seven out of 21 judges don't own any car.