All 33 sitting Supreme Court judges have unanimously agreed to make their asset details public by publishing them on the court’s official website. The decision was made during a full court meeting on April 1, where a resolution was passed to ensure transparency. This policy will also apply to future judges. The move comes in response to recent controversies over a lack of transparency in the judiciary, particularly following allegations that a large sum of cash was found at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma, who currently serves in the Allahabad High Court.

Previously, Supreme Court judges were not required to publicly disclose their assets, as it was left to their discretion. The first primary step towards transparency came in 2009 when the Supreme Court, under public and internal pressure, decided that judges’ asset details could be published on the court’s website. This decision was formally adopted on August 26 of that year.

However, the foundation for asset disclosure was laid much earlier. In 1997, the Supreme Court passed a resolution mandating all its judges to report their assets to the Chief Justice of India (CJI). While this internal disclosure was compulsory, making the information public remained optional despite the 2009 resolution. Now, with the latest decision, publishing asset details on the court’s website is no longer discretionary.

Several judges, including Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, Justice BV Nagarathna, Justice Vikram Nath, and Justice JK Maheshwari, have already submitted their asset declarations. The complete list of declarations will be made available on the Supreme Court’s website, with the exact publication process to be determined soon.