This Article is From Aug 24, 2009

Trying for a consensus on assets issue, says CJI

AFP image

New Delhi:

The row over judges' assets is gathering more heat with two judges saying that they have no qualms about declaring their assets.

However, the Chief Justice of India, K G Balakrishnan, has said that though every High Court judge has the right to declare his/her assets, the Supreme Court needs to reach a consensus on the issue.

"We are trying to evolve a consensus on assets issue," said the CJI.

Reacting to the the declaration of asset by Punjab and Haryana High Court judge K Kannan, the CJI said that a single judge can't cause embarrassment to the institution.

Meanwhile, a top judge of the Madras High Court is likely to disclose his assets on Monday. Earlier K Kannan declared his assets, becoming the first sitting judge to do so.

Kannan has shared his views in his blog. In a letter to Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, Kannan has given details of assets owned by him and his wife but now clarifying his position he has said that he did not intend to defy the Chief Justice of India on the issue of judges declaring their assets.

"I am not taking on the Chief Justice of India and nor are my views different from his on the subject of declaration of assets by the judges of Supreme Court and High Courts. I have been misunderstood," Kannan said.

In an unusually sharp attack on a sitting High Court judge, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan described Justice D V Shylendra Kumar of the Karnataka High Court as publicity-crazy.

Justice Kumar had questioned the CJI's authority to speak for all judges on the issue of declaration of assets and making them public. In reply, the CJI says, "Kumar wants publicity and such a thing is not good for a judge."
Earlier, the CJI had said judges could be harassed if their assets were made public.

Justice Balakrishnan also insisted that as the head of the judiciary he had the right to speak for all judges. The CJI said there was lack of consensus among judges on making public the disclosure of assets. Therefore, a consensus has to be developed, he said.

.