Supreme Court judges and CJI disclose assets

Supreme Court judges and CJI disclose assets

Twenty-one judges of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, have declared their assets, giving details of movable and immovable property owned by them and their spouses in the Supreme Court website. Justice B.N. Agrawal, who retired last month, has also declared his assets on special request, while Justice H.S. Bedi is yet to do so.

Last month the court challenged a single bench order of the Delhi high court, delivered in September, which ruled that the CJI is a public authority and disclosure of assets by members of the judiciary came within the purview of the Right to Information Act.

The disclosures which have been made are also disappointing because they lack many important details. They give an idea of the different saving habits of different judges. Some of them have invested in real estate, others in shares and yet others in the government’s savings schemes. But the information will be useful only when the market value of the assets is known and details like the time of acquisition of property are given.

That will indicate the present value of the property and whether they were acquired during the judicial career or before that. It will also be noted that the properties in possession of the judges have not been identified. In many cases the amount of savings and the value of properties have not been provided. These details are very important. Another drawback is that the disclosures have covered only the assets of the judges and their spouses. Information about the assets of other close relatives, like sons and daughters, is also important in the Indian context.

The declarations have been made under a Supreme Court resolution of May, 1997 which calls upon the judges to disclose their assets. What has been done now is only in partial conformity with that requirement. It actually underlines the need for a law that makes the disclosure mandatory and open to the public, lays down in detail what are the assets to be declared, how the disclosure is to be made and who all should come under its purview. It should also specify the consequences of wrong declarations.

Source - Hindu, Deccan Herald

Chief justice suggests out-of-court settlement of cases

New Delhi, Dec 3 Expressing concern over the increasing backlog of cases in courts and the slow rate of disposal, Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan Monday said lawyers could try to settle most of the cases outside courts "as the present establishment cannot cope up".

Inaugurating the Hindi website and annual report 2006 of the district courts of Delhi, the Chief Justice of India said: "The reason for the increasing number of cases is attributed to the fact that the legal fraternity brings all cases to the court. An effort should be made by the lawyers to settle most of the cases outside the courts as the present establishment cannot cope up with the pendency."

According to the annual report 2006, more than 770,310 cases are pending in the district courts of Delhi.

Balakrishnan stressed the need for specialised courts, especially courts pertaining to family matters, but admitted that the disposable rate of cases in 2006 has declined as compared to 2005.

"In India, the judiciary is not well remunerated and there is an urgent need to have better infrastructure to cope up with the increasing work pressure," he said.

Chief Justice of Delhi High Court M.K. Sarma, Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Anil Kumar along with other judges were present at the function.

"With the first phase of computerization over in the district courts, we are now aiming to bring changes like introduction of digital signatures, SMS services for lawyers and litigants and installation of CCTVs in the courts," said the chief justice of the Delhi High Court.

The number of cases filed in the courts in 2006 was 76,000 more than in 2005.

Only 279 cases were disposed in 2006.

IANS

Supreme court stays sentencing of Mid Day journalists

New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday stayed the Delhi High Court order sentencing four employees of the tabloid Mid-Day to jail for publishing news reports about former chief justice Y.K. Sabharwal.

The apex court stayed the high court's Sep 21 ruling sentencing two journalists, a cartoonist and the publisher of the afternoon tabloid to four months imprisonment each for contempt of court following news reports suggesting that Justice Sabharwal, as the chief justice, had passed orders favouring his sons, who are close associates of mall developers, during the sealing of commercial property in the capital.

Those sentenced were the resident editor Vitusha Oberoi, city editor M.K. Tayal, publisher A.K. Akhtar and cartoonist Irfan.

Chief justice concerned over rising backlog of cases in the Supreme Court

New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan Tuesday expressed concern over the rising backlog of cases in the Supreme Court.

"The one thing that concerns us is the rising backlog of cases here," said the chief justice, without elaborating.

He made the remark during an informal interaction with journalists. The chief justice had convened the meeting with scribes for a first hand appraisal of their day-to-day problems in covering the apex court proceedings.

The backlog of cases pending in the apex court has been exhibiting a rising trend since 1998, when it had touched an all-time low.

The official data from the Department of Justice reveals that the total number of cases pending in the apex court had come down to 19,806 in 1998 from a whopping 104,936 in 1991. But at the beginning of 2006, the number had risen to around 29,000.

The apex court's quarterly monthly statement on its arrears of cases put the figure of pending cases at 41,581 at the end of March 2007 and 43,580 at the end of July 2007.

Chief Justice Balakrishnan, however, told reporters that he would shortly be taking steps to fill the vacancy of judges in the apex court.

The Supreme Court at present has the vacancy for four judges, while six more judges are slated to retire by November 2008.

Filling the judicial vacancies takes time, owing to which four vacancies of the apex court have been continuing for the last one year, despite the appointment of at least three judges this year alone to fill the three other vacancies that arose owing to the retirement of three judges in the intervening period.

The chief justice also mooted the idea of a short, one-week training for journalists covering the apex court at the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal to help enhance their professional skills.

7,000 rural courts to be set up for speedy justice

Srinagar, June 18 (IANS) Seven thousand rural courts would be set up soon across the country to make justice available to the poor and the needy, India's Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said here Monday.

Inaugurating the legal awareness campaign 2007-2008 here, Justice Balakrishnan said, "Justice must be made available to the weaker sections of society promptly and for this the appointment of rural judicial officials would go a long way."

The chief justice said 25 million cases were pending in various courts across the country at the present.

"Once the rural courts are set up and the judges appointed, country's judicial system will see drastic changes," said Justice Balakrishnan, on his first visit to the state after taking over as the Supreme Court chief justice earlier this year.

He also asked the chief ministers of all states to provide better basic infrastructure for the courts.

Justice Balakrishnan laid emphasis on better training facilities to judicial officials.

The Jammu and Kashmir governor, lieutenant general (retired) S.K. Sinha, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, and acting chief justice of the state high court, Justice Aftab Alam were present on the inauguration function held at the Sher-e-Kashmir Convention Complex in this summer capital.

Azad said it was the responsibility of the country's judicial system to provide timely and quick justice to people.