New Delhi: The judges of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, will make public the statements of assets they declared at the time of their appointment to the Supreme Court and subsequent additions, if any.
This decision was taken on Wednesday at a Full Court meeting, presided over by Justice Balakrishnan. The meeting was a sequel to the CJI’s announcement on Monday that consensus was being evolved on disclosure of assets. Except Justice J.M. Panchal, who was on medical leave, all judges participated in the nearly two-hour deliberations. The sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court is 31 including the CJI. There are eight vacancies at present.
“We have decided in principle to put our assets on the [Supreme Court] website, but regarding the modalities, in what manner or form, we have not yet decided,” authoritative sources told The Hindu. Asked whether there was consensus on making public the assets, the sources said: “Whatever decision we take is only through consensus and we have passed a unanimous resolution. The resolution is to be released after it is signed by all the judges.”
Asked to elaborate, the sources said: “At present, judges disclose their assets to the Chief Justice of India as per the procedure in the 1997 ‘Restatement of values.’ Now it will be put on the website.”
Would such disclosure pertain only to the judge concerned or would it cover members of his family too? “It will be strictly in accordance with the 1997 procedure. Of course, each judge has a different form and we have to see how it can be updated.”
To a question whether Wednesday’s resolution covered High Court judges also, the sources said: “We can’t give any direction to the High Courts. They will have to take independent decisions. However, it is expected that they will follow us.”
The issue of public disclosure of assets by judges came to the fore after Justice D.V. Shylendra Kumar of the Karnataka High Court and Justice K. Kannan of the Punjab and Haryana High Court voluntarily disclosed their assets and made them public.
The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reform has been highlighting the need for transparency and public disclosure of assets by judges, and the Full Court decision is an exercise in that direction.
At present, there is no law governing the declaration of assets by judges. In the recently concluded Parliament session, the government introduced a Bill to make declaration of assets by judges mandatory. But since it contained a clause that such a declaration would not come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act, the Bill was withdrawn. The government has announced that it will be re-introduced in the winter session with amendments.
Judge’s details on website
Bangalore Staff
Reporter writes:
Justice Shylendra Kumar’s declaration of assets has now been put on the web.
On Monday, the judge handed over a list of his assets to the Registrar-General of the Karnataka High Court. On Wednesday, a webpage on Google Sites — http://sites.google.com/site/justdvskumar/ — carried purported details of the assets of the judge. Justice Kumar had written an article on judges declaring their assets and the CJI reacted against it.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Khanduri, Raje keep crisis pot boiling in BJP
The crisis-ridden BJP faced more problems on Wednesday, with former Uttarakhand chief minister B C Khanduri questioning his removal from the post and Vasundhara Raje, party leader in the Rajasthan assembly who has been refusing to quit her post, holding a fresh meeting of her supporters.
In a letter reportedly sent to the BJP president before the chintan baithak (introspection meeting) last week, but which became public knowledge only on Wednesday, Khanduri is understood to have questioned the reason for his ouster despite the fact that he enjoyed the support of over two dozen of the party’s 35 MLAs in the Uttarakhand assembly.
Khanduri also targeted the high command for not taking action against any other senior leader for the Lok Sabha defeat. In Uttarakhand the BJP had been wiped out in the last elections, losing all five seats.
Similarly Raje, again underscoring her hold over the BJP’s Rajasthan MLAs, called them for a meeting where a decision was taken to boycott the assembly’s session from Thursday. Sources close to Raje claimed 71 of the BJP’s 78 MLAs attended, in a tacit message that they did not want her to quit.
“I have not resigned from post of opposition leader,” she said, but added in the same breath: “I’m a disciplined member of the party.”
Thus, if the BJP sparked off a storm by expelling senior leader Jaswant Singh last week for writing a book on Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, its hope of quelling the storm by not taking any action against Rajya Sabha MP Arun Shourie for his outburst, failed too.
But an unfazed Rajnath Singh said the party would emerge stronger from the crisis.
In a letter reportedly sent to the BJP president before the chintan baithak (introspection meeting) last week, but which became public knowledge only on Wednesday, Khanduri is understood to have questioned the reason for his ouster despite the fact that he enjoyed the support of over two dozen of the party’s 35 MLAs in the Uttarakhand assembly.
Khanduri also targeted the high command for not taking action against any other senior leader for the Lok Sabha defeat. In Uttarakhand the BJP had been wiped out in the last elections, losing all five seats.
Similarly Raje, again underscoring her hold over the BJP’s Rajasthan MLAs, called them for a meeting where a decision was taken to boycott the assembly’s session from Thursday. Sources close to Raje claimed 71 of the BJP’s 78 MLAs attended, in a tacit message that they did not want her to quit.
“I have not resigned from post of opposition leader,” she said, but added in the same breath: “I’m a disciplined member of the party.”
Thus, if the BJP sparked off a storm by expelling senior leader Jaswant Singh last week for writing a book on Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, its hope of quelling the storm by not taking any action against Rajya Sabha MP Arun Shourie for his outburst, failed too.
But an unfazed Rajnath Singh said the party would emerge stronger from the crisis.
Jaswant describes BJP as Indian version of Ku Klux Klan
NEW DELHI: BJP's dissidents seem to be digging in for a long fight even as expelled party leader Jaswant Singh added another turn of phrase -
apart from Arun Shourie's "humpty-dumpty" and "Alice in blunderland" - in describing his former outfit as an Indian version of the white supramacist Ku Klux Klan.
Jaswant Singh's reference to the BJP, of which he was member for 30-odd years, as a KKK-type outfit came in an interview to a news agency. Apparently in reaction to a question on why he was sacked, the former minister said, "Please don't ask me. I am outside the magic circle of advisers or thinkers. Because I am not from the RSS, is that why? So are we a political party? Is the BJP becoming some kind of an Indian version of Ku Klux Klan?"
The former minister refused to elaborate saying, "You know what the Klan means. You don't ask me about this." His outburst seems to suggest he now sees BJP as a secretive, violent sect that has no place for leaders like him who may espouse a sense of independent inquiry. His comment might also have to do with reports that Arun Shourie was not likely to meet the same fate as Singh due to the former's proximity to the RSS.
He chose to skirt around a question about why BJP leader L K Advani was rejected by people as a prime ministerial aspirant. He said it was for the BJP veteran to reflect on this. "It would be impertinent and perhaps, to a degree also, I would be commenting on my past 30 years with him if I commented on his characteristics, political or personal," he said.
Asked if Advani was surrounded by a coterie, Singh suggested his former leader was more led than a leader. "Does he run a coterie or does the coterie run him," Singh asked. He said BJP should reflect on its relationship with RSS and be "mature enough to cut the umbilical cord".
"I feel for BJP to gain its full personality as a political organisation, they have to stand on their own feet. Now they should be mature enough to cut the umbilical cord," he said. He disagreed with Shourie's suggestion that RSS should take over the party saying it will not work. "I would like the BJP to reflect on what has happened and try to be a party of the 21st Century. They (RSS) are exclusivist. Besides, they are an organisation committed to social work," he said.
To a question on a long rope being extended to Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan and Shourie merely being asked for a clarification, he said, "I am sorry. I cannot comment on it. I was told don't come to the meeting. Of course. Good luck to Raje. But there are obviously double standards."
Asked if his expulsion was a message to other dissidents in the party, he shot back: "Am I a dissident. I am sorry. Your question suggests I am some kind of a dissident. I feel I am one of the original founding members of the party. Who felt that I had raised queries or questions? And is questioning or wondering or enquiring about the functioning of the party dissidence? So are we moving into an era of thought control?"
Asked about chances of reconciliation with BJP, Singh said, "Reconciliation to what? Reconciliation to an insult?"
He ruled out joining the Samajwadi Party, which has invited him to join it. "I am happy to be an independent." He said he was an independent member of the Parliament now representing Darjeeling constituency and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has reaffirmed its total faith in him. "I will serve the cause of GJM and Gorkhaland. That is my karma bhoomi and my janam bhoomi is the desert. I shall serve them," he said.
He ruled out stepping down as chairman of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee following his expulsion from BJP. Singh said he had consulted the secretary general of Lok Sabha, who said that rules did not require him to step down. The Committee is a mini-Parliament and it was the prerogative of the Speaker to remove him on certain grounds which do not apply to him, he said. When told he had become chairman because BJP nominated him to it, he said, "BJP nominated me only to contest the elections."
apart from Arun Shourie's "humpty-dumpty" and "Alice in blunderland" - in describing his former outfit as an Indian version of the white supramacist Ku Klux Klan.
Jaswant Singh's reference to the BJP, of which he was member for 30-odd years, as a KKK-type outfit came in an interview to a news agency. Apparently in reaction to a question on why he was sacked, the former minister said, "Please don't ask me. I am outside the magic circle of advisers or thinkers. Because I am not from the RSS, is that why? So are we a political party? Is the BJP becoming some kind of an Indian version of Ku Klux Klan?"
The former minister refused to elaborate saying, "You know what the Klan means. You don't ask me about this." His outburst seems to suggest he now sees BJP as a secretive, violent sect that has no place for leaders like him who may espouse a sense of independent inquiry. His comment might also have to do with reports that Arun Shourie was not likely to meet the same fate as Singh due to the former's proximity to the RSS.
He chose to skirt around a question about why BJP leader L K Advani was rejected by people as a prime ministerial aspirant. He said it was for the BJP veteran to reflect on this. "It would be impertinent and perhaps, to a degree also, I would be commenting on my past 30 years with him if I commented on his characteristics, political or personal," he said.
Asked if Advani was surrounded by a coterie, Singh suggested his former leader was more led than a leader. "Does he run a coterie or does the coterie run him," Singh asked. He said BJP should reflect on its relationship with RSS and be "mature enough to cut the umbilical cord".
"I feel for BJP to gain its full personality as a political organisation, they have to stand on their own feet. Now they should be mature enough to cut the umbilical cord," he said. He disagreed with Shourie's suggestion that RSS should take over the party saying it will not work. "I would like the BJP to reflect on what has happened and try to be a party of the 21st Century. They (RSS) are exclusivist. Besides, they are an organisation committed to social work," he said.
To a question on a long rope being extended to Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan and Shourie merely being asked for a clarification, he said, "I am sorry. I cannot comment on it. I was told don't come to the meeting. Of course. Good luck to Raje. But there are obviously double standards."
Asked if his expulsion was a message to other dissidents in the party, he shot back: "Am I a dissident. I am sorry. Your question suggests I am some kind of a dissident. I feel I am one of the original founding members of the party. Who felt that I had raised queries or questions? And is questioning or wondering or enquiring about the functioning of the party dissidence? So are we moving into an era of thought control?"
Asked about chances of reconciliation with BJP, Singh said, "Reconciliation to what? Reconciliation to an insult?"
He ruled out joining the Samajwadi Party, which has invited him to join it. "I am happy to be an independent." He said he was an independent member of the Parliament now representing Darjeeling constituency and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has reaffirmed its total faith in him. "I will serve the cause of GJM and Gorkhaland. That is my karma bhoomi and my janam bhoomi is the desert. I shall serve them," he said.
He ruled out stepping down as chairman of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee following his expulsion from BJP. Singh said he had consulted the secretary general of Lok Sabha, who said that rules did not require him to step down. The Committee is a mini-Parliament and it was the prerogative of the Speaker to remove him on certain grounds which do not apply to him, he said. When told he had become chairman because BJP nominated him to it, he said, "BJP nominated me only to contest the elections."
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