Only half of the sitting judges of the Supreme Court have uploaded information about their assets and investments on the apex court's website. This was made mandatory by a resolution passed by the Supreme Court in 1997 according to which every judge had to disclose his assets to the Chief Justice of India.
According to the resolution, every judge should declare all his assets/investments, held by him in his name or in the name of his spouse or any person dependent on him, within a reasonable time of assuming office or adoption of the resolution and thereafter whenever he makes an acquisition of a substantial nature should be disclosed within reasonable time.
At present, there are 23 sitting judges but only 12 have uploaded their assets on the official website of the apex court.
In 2007, a Right to Information (RTI) Act activist filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking disclosure of judges assets under RTI, which was contested by the Supreme Court registry.
In August 2009, the apex court passed another resolution asking the judges to voluntarily declare their assets which would be then made public.
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Justices AM Khanwilkar, R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan, NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, SA Bobde and AK Goel have not only declared their assets and liabilities but also of their families.
The names of Justices AM Sapre, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Navin Sinha, RF Nariman, Mohan M Shantanagoudar, Deepak Gupta, DY Chandrachud, UU Lalit, L Nageswara Rao, Indu Malhotra and S Abdul Nazeer are missing from the list of judges who disclosed their assets, liabilities and investments.
According to the website, the assets of Chief Justice Dipak Misra were last declared on May 1, 2012. He had joined Supreme Court on October 10, 2011.
Justice Misra also disclosed that he has a loan of Rs 33 lakh taken from different banks.
Justice Gogoi updated information on the website on June 6 by disclosing the sale of land in Guwahati for Rs 65 lakh, including the tax deducted, and transfer of ancestral land to him and his wife by his mother as a gift.
Justice Sikri has a house in Greater Noida while his wife and son jointly own a property in Hauz Khas locality of Delhi.
Justice Lokur declared his assets on July 20, 2012, and these include a flat in Vasant Kunj and another in Noida.
Justice Joseph, who was appointed Supreme Court judge in March 2013, has six pieces of land in Kerala, some of which is jointly owned by his wife and son.
The dates of the declaration made by some judges have not been mentioned clearly.
Justice Joseph declared his assets on June 10, 2015; Ramana on March 31, 2018; Banumathi on November 4, 2014; Khanwilkar on July 31, 2017; and Bhushan on October 9, 2017.
