It seems the declaration of assets by the Chief Justice of India and his 21 judges on their website are just enough, if not more. A three-member Special Bench of the Delhi High Court on Thursday said the Right to Information cannot legally probe further. The reason, simply put, is that the RTI Act, 2005, does not ask for more. The Bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justices Vikramjit Sen and S Muralidhar said Supreme Court judges are under no obligation to reveal more of their wealth than what they have voluntarily declared to the Chief Justice of India.

On November 2, Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and his judges, one of them retired, posted details of movable and immovable properties owned by them and their spouses on the website.

The court is of the opinion that the SC judges may have even overreacted by revealing their spouses’ wealth though the 1997 Resolution of the Supreme Court expressly demands it. “What if the wife has her own business and is wealthy? Does it mean she has to declare her assets, income tax returns, etc?” the Bench said. “With great humility we notice an aberration in the Resolution. It is as if after marriage the wife is holding on to the husband’s property,” the Bench noted.

The Bench is hearing an appeal filed by the Supreme Court against a “too broad and slightly unnecessary” — as Attorney General of India G E Vahanvati puts it — verdict of Justice S Ravindra Bhatt of the High Court, directing the SC judges to make public their assets under the RTI.

... contd.