Remaining Above Suspicion
Such declarations are meaningless if we look at it from the viewpoint of restoring faith in 
judiciary or creating a ‘clean’ image. The fact is that Justice Ramaswamy’s impeachment got politically managed in 1992, which delivered a big blow to the common man’s faith in judiciary. Those who followed the case then and read the details of his indiscretions in magazines felt angry and helpless at the turn of events.
Recently, Justice Soumitra Sen was held guilty of using court’s money for personal use. His impeachment is coming up. There is a widely held view about judiciary being corrupt, particularly at the junior level. The pressure building up on Judges to declare assets must be seen in this light.
Prashant Bhushan puts it well, “We also need to get rid of the Veeraswami judgement which restrains criminal investigation of judges without the prior written permission of the Chief Justice of India. This has tied the hands of investigating agencies from investigating judges of the higher judiciary. A Judicial Bureau of Investigation under an independent Judicial Complaints Commission should be set up to investigate complaints against judges.”
Vivek
Sir, one is clean justice and the other is speedy justice. This is the litmus test. If Judges occur to the common man as corrupt, other means will get adopted to settle scores and seek justice. The last line was well said, Sir.
If they are found guilty who will be the judge.. That's an interesting post!!
They must be above suspicion. Indeed !!! And i was quite pleasantly surprised that the lead was taken by High Court judges…which forced the SC judges to also 'fall in line' !
@ NSI: I liked your thoughts about clean and speedy justice.
@ Swatantra: Interesting question, today not only justice but also punishments are delayed!
@Kavi Is this also a case of reverse mentoring?
Vivek
There is a tendency amongst lawyers and judges of the lower court to be corrupt. These tendencies die away as these people get promoted. However, the new initiative of the Government to have SC judges reveal their assets is a new way they have found to be able to arm twist the SC judges. Till now, the SC judiciary has always been a thorn in the flesh when Government has been concerned. Now, the Government has found tweezers for picking out this thorn. Expect more reversals of decisions and cases to pend longer than usual.
I absolutely agree with you. If the judiciary is not absolutely clean, then there is very little hope for the common man.
A very good way of putting it- "Judges are like Caesar's wife, not being corrupt is not enough, they must always be above suspicion!
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How true!
Yes, I couldn't agree with you more. While many, rather, most things in our country are going from bad to worse, this little step (opening judges' personal assets to public scrutiny) is a positive development, like the RTI. A comprehensive array of measures like these will make our democracy stronger.