Law Comm Chairman favours making assets of judges public

Reservations against judges of higher judiciary over their reluctance to make public their assets have started coming from within with a former Supreme Court judge and Chairman of the Law Commission A R Lakshmanan favouring declaration of property by them.

Reservations against judges of higher judiciary over their reluctance to make public their assets have started coming from within with a former Supreme Court judge and Chairman of the Law Commission A R Lakshmanan favouring declaration of property by them.

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"My personal opinion is that every judge should be able to give property statement while becoming a judge and give details if they acquire assets during their service," he said while interacting with a select group of journalists.

The former apex court judge said in order to achieve transparency in judiciary, the Right to Information Act should be applicable to the members of judiciary.

"There is nothing wrong in giving our property details. One thing has to be considered that a person holding public office has to give property status," said Lakshmanan who has over four decades of experience in the legal profession, including 17 years as a judge of the High Court and the Supreme Court.

"If anybody wants list of properties owned by me, I have personally no problem in declaring it," said the judge who as Chairman of Law Commission has submitted 32 reports in his over two years of tenure.

He referred to the views of jurist Fali S Nariman on voluntary disclosure of assets by judges and expressed his agreement with him that every judge of higher judiciary should do it on his own.