Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan and 20 other judges of the Supreme Court have made public details of their assets. The Supreme Court Website mentions that the declaration of assets is purely on voluntary basis. The assets and liabilities of ‘self and spouse’ are detailed therein. This is long overdue and to that extent, it is welcome.

The declaration by the CJI and others climaxed months of controversy triggered by right to information petitions seeking transparency about the assets of judges of higher judiciary that culminated in a battle in the Delhi High Court. It may be recalled that the Supreme Court adopted a strident stand in the High Court saying the judges were not covered by such a provision but later relented under mounting public and media pressure.  The Supreme Court Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) had only last month filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court against a single judge’s order holding that information on assets declared by Supreme Court judges in the possession of the Chief Justice of India would come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act. The appeal said: “The single judge failed to appreciate that the declaration of assets, if any, given by a judge of the Supreme Court is purely voluntary and is not required to be given under any legal provision and there is no sanction for non-furnishing of s
uch information.”

The government was forced to defer the Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill, 2009, earlier this year in Rajya Sabha after the Opposition took strong objection to a provision in the Bill which states that High Court and Supreme Court Judges would declare their assets but the same would not be made public.
The judiciary "cannot be kept in the same room with politicians and bureaucrats. They cannot hold a press conference like politicians if something is said about them," Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily had said earlier claiming frivolous applications by people unhappy with certain judgments could be filed under RTI Act.

Now that the assets and liabilities of our Supreme Court Judges have become public, Moily has termed it as "an excellent gesture."  “This proved the integrity of Indian judiciary was the "highest"

It is well known that even now, several people will have reservations on the ‘voluntary’ disclosure.
I am inclined to agree with Prashant Bhushan, who has been on the forefront in the court battles on declaration of assets by the judges.  According to him, “this is not enough" and would still advocate for a law which makes the declaration mandatory and not voluntary.
It is a reasonable apprehension that since it is voluntary, it is open to judges to refuse disclosure. Wisdom decrees that it should be made mandatory and that too, through an affidavit.