Although an initiative was taken for submitting the wealth statements of the Supreme Court judges, but it has been stalled for 13 years.
In 2011, the then Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque set an example by submitting his wealth information and requested the Supreme Court judges to start the practice for the sake of transparency and accountability.
In support of his initiative, several High Court judges at that time submitted their wealth statements. Later that trend did not continue. As a result, the initiative to submit wealth statements has stopped.
Lower court judges earlier used to submit their wealth statements along with their annual work statements. But, now they don submit those anymore.
There was also a provision to obtain the permission of the Ministry for the purchase and sale of assets. Now sometimes judges are asked to account for their assets. Apart from this, at the time of joining the service, the judicial officers fill a form, which also mentions the details of assets.
But, there is a strong provision for the lower court judges to submit their wealth statements to the Supreme Court through the Law Ministry every three years. But, it is not to follow strongly at this time, sources said.
With allegations of irregularities in the judiciary being raised sometimes, some eminent jurists have opined that all the judges of the Appellate and High Court divisions of the SC should submit their wealth statements to the Chief Justice.
Some jurists further said if the wealth statements of the SC judges are disclosed to the people, the prestige and dignity of the SC and the public faith in the judiciary will be greatly enhanced.
On December 30, 2010, Justice Khairul Haque submitted his wealth statement to the then president Zillur Rahman. At a meeting on January 3, 2011, Justice Khairul urged all the judges of the two divisions to submit wealth statements to his office.
SC sources said Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, the then senior judge of the Appellate Division, and 17 judges of the HC Division had submitted their wealth statements to Justice Khairul, who sent those to the Presidents office.
The Appellate Division now has seven judges, including Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan. The High Court Division has 983 judges.
Experts opined that judges should submit their wealth statements in order to maintain the image and dignity of the judiciary and ensure transparency and accountability.
Former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque said he had submitted his wealth statements at that time to maintain transparency and accountability.
"So far I know almost everyone in the judiciary is honest. I have submitted the wealth statements to maintain accountability, transparency and integrity. A few other colleagues of mine gave me an account of their wealth. Later that continuity was not maintained," he said.
An Appellate Division judge told this correspondent there is no scope for corruption among the judges of the Supreme Court.
Judges don have huge amount of money.
Every Judge wants to submit wealth information and every Judge is showing their wealth information in their tax files, the judges explained.
However, Judges said there is no constitutional obligation for the Chief Justice to submit wealth statement or ask other judges to do so. Even, there is no specific rule for the Supreme Court judges for disclosing wealth or submitting wealth statements to the Chief Justice.
