In a significant move towards enhancing transparency in the judiciary, 21 of the 33 sitting judges of the Supreme Court have made their asset declarations public. The disclosures were uploaded to the apex court’s official website on Monday, in line with a recent resolution passed by the full Supreme Court.
The decision to place judges’ asset details in the public domain follows growing concerns about judicial accountability, particularly in the wake of allegations of corruption, including the recent controversy involving justice Yashwant Varma. The full Court, in its meeting held on 1 April 2025, resolved that the statements of assets of all Supreme Court judges would be uploaded to the Court's website as a matter of policy.
"The full court of the Supreme Court of India has... decided that the statement 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," a release from the apex court stated. It added that the declarations already received had been uploaded, while the rest would be published as and when submitted.
The Supreme Court currently functions with 33 judges, against a sanctioned strength of 34. As of now, 12 judges are yet to make their asset details public.
The names of the judges whose declarations are available online include: chief justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, and justice BR Gavai, justice Surya Kant, justice Abhay S Oka, justice Vikram Nath, justice MM Sundresh, justice Bela M Trivedi, justice PS Narasimha and others. Declarations from justices such as BV Nagarathna, JK Maheshwari and Joymalya Bagchi are still awaited.
Previously, judges were only required to make a confidential declaration of their assets to the chief justice of India, as per a full court resolution passed on 7 May 1997. That resolution mandated judges to declare real estate or investments held in their name or that of their spouse or dependents upon assuming office or making substantial acquisitions.
In 2009, another full Court resolution allowed for these declarations to be disclosed to the public, but only on a voluntary basis.
The latest decision marks a shift from voluntary disclosure to a more structured and public process. It comes on the heels of a recent incident involving the discovery of unaccounted cash at the residence of a Delhi High Court judge, prompting calls for stricter internal oversight. That judge has since been recommended for transfer to the Allahabad High Court and an in-house inquiry is ongoing.
The Supreme Court has clarified that asset declarations will now be considered mandatory and will be updated on its website regularly.
The details of assets can be read here…
1. Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Chief Justice of India
View2. Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai
View3. Justice Surya Kant
View4. Justice Abhay S. Oka
View5. Justice Vikram Nath
View6. Justice JK Maheshwari NA
7. Justice BV Nagarathna NA
8. Justice M.M. Sundresh
View9. Justice Bela M.Trivedi
View10. Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha
View11. Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia
View12. Justice Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala
View13. Justice Dipankar Datta NA
14. Justice Pankaj Mithal
View15. Justice Sanjay Karol
View16. Justice Sanjay Kumar
View17. Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah NA
18. Justice Manoj Misra NA
19. Justice Rajesh Bindal
View20. Justice Aravind Kumar NA
21. Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra NA
22. Justice K.V. Viswanathan
View23. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan
View24. Justice S. Venkatanarayana Bhatti
View25. Justice Satish Chandra Sharma NA
26. Justice Augustine George Masih
View27. Justice Sandeep Mehta
View28. Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale NA
29. Justice N Kotiswar Singh NA
30. Justice R Mahadevan NA
31. Justice Manmohan
View32. Justice K Vinod Chandran
View33. Justice Joymalya Bagchi NA
