In another step towards bringing in transparency in the judiciary, the Supreme Court has made public the assets of its judges.
The assets of 21 judges of the current strength of 33 were uploaded on the Supreme Court website on the night of May 5.
The details include individual holdings, along with those of spouse and dependents, if any.
As per the website, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna has Rs 55.75 lakh in fixed deposits & bank accounts and Rs 1.06 crore in Public Provident Fund (PPF).
He possesses a two-bedroom DDA flat in South Delhi and a four-bedroom flat in the Commonwealth Games Village. The CJI also has 56 percent share in a four-bedroom flat in Gurugram with his daughter holding the remaining 44 percent, apart from a share in an ancestral house, dating from before Partition, in Himachal Pradesh.
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Seniormost judge of the Apex Court and CJI-designate, Justice BR Gavai, has Rs 19.63 lakh in bank accounts and Rs 6.59 lakh in his PPF account.
He inherited a house in Amravati, Maharashtra, besides residential apartments in Mumbai and Delhi. He has also inherited agricultural land in Amravati and Nagpur, as per the data available on the website. He has also declared liabilities to the tune of Rs 1.3 crore.
The decision to go public with their assets and upload the same on the Apex Court website was taken by the Supreme Court judges on April 1, during a full court meeting.
Justice AS Oka, who is due to retire on May 24, has Rs 92.35 lakh in PPF, Rs 21.76 lakh in FD, a 2022 model Maruti Baleno car, and a car loan of Rs 5.1 lakh.
Justice Vikram Nath has declared a 2-BHK apartment in Noida, a bungalow in Allahabad, and inherited agricultural land in Uttar Pradesh. He also has Rs 1.5 crore in investments.
Justice Surya Kant has residential properties that he jointly owns with his spouse in Chandigarh, Gurugram, and Delhi. His investments include 31 FD receipts, including interest, totalling Rs 6.03 crore.
Justice Bela M Trivedi owns a house at Dipti Bank of India Society, Gulbai Tekra, Ahmedabad, besides an under-construction one in Neetibaug Judges Cooperative Society, Ahmedabad.
Besides Rs 60 lakh in mutual funds and Rs 20 lakh in PPF, Justice Trivedi possesses jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh and a 2015 Maruti Swift car.
The assets list of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia notes that “all immovable properties mentioned here are prior to my becoming a judge and there is no addition to it”. He owns a 2008 Maruti Zen Estilo car, which is presently not in use and lying idle in Dehradun.
Justice KV Viswanathan, who was a successful lawyer until he was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court in May 2023, has investments totalling Rs 120.96 crore and paid income tax of Rs 91.47 crore from 2010-11 to 2024-25.
Justice Sanjay Kumar has a detailed stock portfolio. His list of stocks include Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Cholamandalam Finance Ltd, HCL Infosystems Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, HDFC Life Insurance Co. Ltd, Infosys Ltd, ITC Ltd, NMDC Ltd, Olectra Greentech Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd, Solara Active Pharma Sciences Ltd, State Bank of India, Steel Authority of India Ltd, Tata Communications Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd, Tata Steel, Vedanta Ltd, Jio Finance Ltd, Vijaya Diagnostic Centre Ltd, ITC Hotels and NMDC Steel Ltd.