Cash discovery row: In a first, SC publishes judges’ asset details, collegium process to appoint judicial officers on website
**EDS: THIRD PARTY IMAGE** In this screengrab from a video posted by @SupremeCourtofIndia-1950 via Youtube on Monday, March 17, 2025, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna administers the oath of office to Justice Joymalya Bagchi, a judge of the Calcutta High Court, as a Supreme Court judge. (@SupremeCourtofIndia-1950 on Youtube via PTI Photo) (PTI03_17_2025_000039B)
As part of its initiatives to enhance transparency, the Supreme Court published details of assets owned by judges and the process followed by the collegium to appoint judicial officers on Monday.
The apex court said as per a full-court decision, the relevant details regarding judges' assets have been published in the public domain.
"The full court of the Supreme Court of India has on April 1, 2025 decided that the statements of assets of the judges of this court shall be placed in the public domain by uploading the same on the website of this court. Statements of assets of judges already received are being uploaded. Statements of assets of other judges will be uploaded as and when the current statement of assets is received," the apex court said in a release on Monday.
The apex court also published details regarding appointments of judicial officers to the Supreme Court and high courts across the country. The top court has published the complete process of appointments to the high courts and the Supreme Court, including details regarding whether the appointee is related to any sitting or retired judges. The details were published for the "awareness of the public".
"The proposals approved by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointments as high court judges during the period from November 9, 2022 to May 5, 2025, including the names, high court, source -- whether from service or Bar, date of recommendation by the Supreme Court collegium, date of notification by the Department of Justice, date of appointment, special category (SC/ST/OBC/Minority/Woman) and whether the candidate is related to any sitting or retired High Court/Supreme Court judge, have also been uploaded on the Supreme Court website," the top court said in its statement.
The top court decided to take measures to enhance transparency following the alleged discovery of unaccounted cash at the residence of former Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma during a fire accident. The top court appointed a three-member judicial committee to probe the allegations and it submitted its probe report to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Monday. Justice Varma denied the allegations and alleged it was a conspiracy to malign his image.
India