By IANS,
New Delhi : Political parties Thursday welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court judges to make public their assets and put up the information on the website of the apex court for scrutiny.
“I think it is a welcome step; and more so because of the fact that rather than being imposed through legislation, it has emerged from introspection in the judiciary,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari told IANS.
Welcoming the decision, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP and politburo member Brinda Karat said: “It’s a good decision, though belated.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also welcomed the step and said such efforts were needed to enhance transparency in a democracy.
“It is a good gesture definitely because steps like these are needed to enhance transparency in every pillar of democracy. However, the information should not be used or misused to target the judiciary,” Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP vice president, told IANS.
The apex court took the decision Wednesday at a full court meeting of its judges which was presided over by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan.
The judges passed a resolution that the details of their assets, which are already available with the office of the chief justice of India in varying formats, would be tabulated in a uniform format and placed on the apex court website at the earliest.
The meeting that lasted for over two hours saw unanimous consensus that this should be done at the earliest, sources said.
The judges felt that as they had already been declaring the assets to the chief justice of India, they hardly had anything to hide.
Accordingly, there was no point in giving an impression that the judicial fraternity of the apex court was against disclosing their assets, the sources said.