Judges of the Madras High Court will declare their assets to the Chief Justice by October 31. The details furnished by them would be hosted on the High Court website.
A decision to this effect was taken at a Full Court meeting here on Thursday with Chief Justice H.L.Gokhale, presiding, a senior official said. With the Judges of the Supreme Court agreeing to make their assets public, the Madras High Court decided to follow suit.
As of now, judges of the Supreme Court disclose their assets to the Chief Justice of India as per the procedure in the 1997 ‘Restatement of values.’ The details would now be accessible to the public.
Earlier, Mr.Justice Gokhale said the High Court also would decide on its Judges declaring their assets on receipt of modalities from the Supreme Court. At the Full Court meeting, declaration of assets by judges was one of the items on the agenda.
Enquiries revealed that the decision of the judges was unanimous. The modalities for furnishing the details had not been received yet. At present, there is no fixed format for presenting the details to the Chief Justice.
Indications are that the Judges would stick to the format to be evolved by the Supreme Court. If that was not available, they would evolve one. In this context, it is pointed out that a format would be in place in the event of the Judges (Declaration of Assets) Bill becoming a law. At present, the total strength of the High Court is 55.
