New Delhi: Mutual funds and fixed deposits are preferred investment options for sitting Supreme Court judges and their spouses, according to the information uploaded Monday night on the official website of the apex court.
The details of movable and immovable assets owned by 21 of 33 judges are available on the SC portal for public view. Data with regard to the remaining 12 judges is in the process of being collated and would be uploaded soon, sources in the Supreme Court registry told ThePrint.
Justices J.K.Maheswari, B.V. Nagarathna, Dipankar Datta, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Manoj Misra, Aravind Kumar, P.K.Mishra, S.C. Sharma, P.B.Varale, N.Kotiswar Singh, R. Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi are the 12 judges whose details are yet to be uploaded.
Eight judges—Justices B.R.Gavai, J.B.Pardiwala, M.M.Sundresh, Abhay Oka, Manmohan, Sudhanshu Dhulia, Sanjay Karol, Augustine Masih and Vinod Chandran—have given details of their liabilities as well. While Justices Pardiwala, Sundresh, Dhulia and Masih have home loans, Justice Oka has a car loan to repay.
Justices Gavai, Manmohan and Karol have rent security deposits as liabilities. Justice Chandran has taken a loan against one of his fixed deposits.
The declaration is part of a resolution that was unanimously approved by all the sitting Supreme court judges at a full court meeting held 1 April. As reported by ThePrint earlier, the resolution was approved in the wake of the controversy that arose following the alleged discovery of cash at the residence of then sitting Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma, who has since been transferred to the Allahabad High Court.
The move was seen as a departure from the practice prevalent then, under which judges make the disclosure to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and it is not necessary to make them public, unless a specific judge on a voluntary basis desires to do so.
With the new resolution, public declaration of assets will no longer be a discretionary exercise and be applicable to future judges as well.
The information disclosed shows that Justice K.V.Viswanathan has the highest investment, with over Rs 120 crore invested in shares, mutual funds, fixed deposits, debentures, public provident fund and general provident fund. Both he and his wife, a practicing lawyer, have also invested money in US dollars under the Reserve Bank of India’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme scheme that allows individuals to freely remit up to $2,50,000 per financial year abroad.
Justice K.V. Vishwanathan, who was a senior advocate practicing in the Supreme Court before he was elevated to the bench in May 2023, has also disclosed details of his income-tax returns. Since 2010 till he became a judge, Justice Vishwanathan has deposited Rs 91 crore as taxes.
Apart from owning two self-acquired apartments in South Delhi’s Safdarjung Development Area (SDA), Justice Vishwanathan also has an apartment in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and a basement in Delhi’s Gulmohar Park that is jointly owned with his wife.
Justice P.S. Narasimha, the second sitting SC judge who got directly elevated to the Bench from the Bar, too has provided the statement of taxes he has paid since and also for three years post his appointment to the top court in 2022. It is around Rs 31.45 crore.
His investments worth Rs 35 crore are made in mutual funds, fixed deposits and gold bonds, apart from bank accounts. He has an insurance policy of over Rs 82 lakh and owns a self-acquired house in Noida and an apartment in the Supreme Court towers—a co-operative housing society started by lawyers registered with the Supreme Court Bar Association.
While he has inherited a share in his ancestral property in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, from where he belongs, his wife has a small office space in Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg and also one-third share in the Noida house.
Both Justices Narasimha and Vishwanathan are expected to be CJIs in future.
The disclosure shows that spouses of Justices Vikram Nath and M.M. Sundresh has made more financial investments compared to the two judges.
While Justice Sundresh does not have shares, his wife holds shares in companies such as Reliance Industries, ONGC, Unitech Limited, DLF Limited, L&T and ICICI Bank. Justice Sundresh has a little over Rs 55 lakh in his General Provident Fund (GPF) and Rs 10 lakh savings with the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
The judge and his wife have also declared their diamond jewelery, apart from the gold that they possess. Justice Sundresh owns one carat of diamond, whereas his wife has 15 carat of diamond. The couple together own a property in Chennai and have also acquired individual plots in Erode, Tamil Nadu. Justice Sundresh also has more than 23 acres of land in Lakkapuram and Ezhumathur.
While Justice Nath’s total investment in shares, mutual funds, fixed deposits, GPF, PPF and bonds is around Rs 1.5 crore, his wife’s assets in financial instruments are around Rs 3.25 crore. To clarify, Justice Nath’s wife is the Vice-Chancellor of Allahabad University.
Justice Nath is a future CJI and is currently member of the collegium that recommends appointments to the Supreme Court. Very soon, he will also be a part of the three-member collegium that approves candidates for high courts.
The judge has inherited a 2,000 square yard ancestral bungalow in his hometown Prayagraj and owns a two-bedroom apartment in Nodia, while his wife is the owner of a two bedroom apartment in Prayagraj. He also owns 1,000 gm of gold personally, whereas his wife has 1,500 gm of gold.
As for CJI Sanjiv Khanna, who heads the collegium and the judicial family, PPF and GPF are where he has made his maximum investments. He has a little over Rs 1 crore in PPF, while a little over Rs 1.77 crore in the GPF. He has FDRs worth Rs 55 lakh and has shares for Rs 14,000.
However, CJI Khanna’s wife has shares and mutual funds over Rs 1.39 crore. His asset disclosure shows the CJI owns a Maruti Swift car that he purchased in 2015 and he has 250 gm of gold. His wife’s jewellery disclosure reveals she has 700 gm of gold and few diamond pieces, besides five kg of silver.
The CJI’s properties in Delhi include a two-bedroom DDA flat and a four-bedroom flat in the CommonWealth Games (CWG) Village. He also has 56 percent share in a four-bedroom flat in Gurugram with his daughter holding the remaining 44 percent share. He is also a co-owner in his ancestral house, dating from before Pakistan, in Himachal Pradesh.
Justice B.R.Gavai, who will be sworn in as the CJI next week and is the seniormost collegium member after CJI Khanna, has few shares. He has given the name of only one share that he owns in Nyay Sagar Co-operative Society in Mumbai. Together in PPF and GPF, Justice Gavai holds a little over Rs 42 lakh, while in his wife’s PPF account there is Rs 6.59 lakh.
Justice Gavai has his own residential apartment in Bandra, Mumbai, one in Defence Colony and inherited a house from his father in Amravati. He has agricultural land in Amravati and Kedapur, Katol, Nagpur. He also inherited some agricultural land from his father.
Justice Surya Kant, who too is in line to become the CJI by the end of this year, owns joint properties, with his wife in Chandigarh, Sushant Lok, Gurugram, Greater Kailash-I in Delhi and more than 13 acres of agricultural land in Panchkula’s Gopura village. He has a 250 square yard plot in Gurugram that is his exclusive property. He has also inherited a share in two ancestral properties left behind by his father in Hisar.
The judge has also disclosed that he owns three valuable watches. As far as his investments are concerned, he has FDRs amounting to Rs 4.11 crore, which includes interest amount. He has also FDRs, which he has declared to be part of Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) and these are for a little over Rs 1.92 crore, again including interest.
His spouse too has FDRs of over Rs 1.96 crore, including interest. While Justice Kant has GPF of over Rs 3 crore, his wife has a PPF where she has Rs 49.90 lakh.
The judge also disclosed about the FDRs owned by his two daughters, who are majors, as well as their respective PPF accounts and gold ornaments.
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FDRs & senior citizen savings as well
Justice Abhay Oka, who is set to retire later this month, has invested the maximum in PPF (Rs 92 lakh), followed by FDRs (Rs 21.76 lakh), and then mutual funds (Rs 8.20 lakh). He also had shares (Rs 4.75 lakh) and a LIC policy of Rs 1 lakh. His total investments are around Rs 1.38 crore.
Owner of a Maruti Baleno, Justice Oka has two properties in Thane and undivided share in agricultural land in Thane’s Kulgaon village.
Justice J.B. Pardiwala, who is set to have a two-year-long term in CJI’s office after he takes over the post in May 2028, also has investments in mutual funds that are for over Rs 2 crore. His wife too has mutual funds of Rs 1 crore.
He has a house in Ahmedabad, ancestral property in Tithal village, Valsad in Gujarat and agricultural land in Nidhrad Tal, Ahmedabad. Both he and his wife have shares in ACML Capital Markets Limited.
Justice Pankaj Mithal, who hails from Prayagraj, appears to be the only judge who has chosen the post office for his investments, apart from having savings in his GPF. He has opted for the senior citizen savings scheme account with the post office in Supreme Court, has also a savings bank account there and has chosen the national pension scheme for both his wife and himself.
Besides, he also has a couple of FDRs with the State Bank of India (SBI) in its Prayagraj branch.
Justice Bela Trivedi, one of the two sitting women judges to have provided details about her assets, has mutual funds of Rs 60 lakh. Having jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh, Justice Trivedi has a residential house in Gulbai Tekra, Gujarat and a house that is under construction at the Neetibaug judges cooperative society.
Justice Manmohan, who was chief justice of the Delhi High Court, has inherited a share in South Delhi’s Vasant Vihar property after the demise of his father and former J&K governor Jagmohan. Besides, he has a plot and flat in Gurugram, agricultural land in Saharanpur, UP, and also a share in a Golf Links property.
Both he and his wife have invested considerably in RBI bonds. While his investment is close to Rs 12 crore, his wife’s is around Rs 7 crore. Justice Manmohan also has a GPF account worth Rs 3.9 crore, while his wife has FDRs of around Rs 3 crore.
While Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia has no investments in mutual funds, or FDs or debentures or PPF, he has two LIC policies and GPF of Rs 20 lakh. He has a house in Dehradun from where he earns a monthly income of Rs 1.4 lakh. He inherited this house from his mother. Apart from a three-bedroom house in Nainital, Justice Dhulia has inherited ancestral properties in Pauri Garhwal region.
Justice Sanjay Karol, who practiced in the Supreme Court before his elevation as a judge in the Himachal Pradesh High Court, has “very few shares in listed companies.” He too has no FDs, bonds, debentures or PPF, but has a GPF account. While he acquired a flat in defence colony in 2017, his wife has owned one there since 2003. Justice Karol, however, has several ancestral properties in Himachal Pradesh.
Justice Sanjay Kumar has shared details of all company shares held by him as well as his wife. He has also disclosed about his investment of Rs 3 crore with a private firm owned by his brother-in-law. The money deposited is the sale proceeds that he got after disposing his properties over a period of time. He declared that his wife’s jewellery is declared under the wealth-tax regime and in her bank account rentals paid by tenants get deposited.
Justice Kumar holds shares in companies such as Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (6,000), Cholamandalam Finance Limited (1,000), Reliance Industries Limited (1,708) and Vijaya Diagnostics Centre Limited (10,000).
Justice Rajesh Bindal has shares worth Rs 3.20 crore. However, he has not disclosed the names of the companies where he has invested. Apart from having a share in properties in Chandigarh and Ambala city, Justice Bindal owns a house in Mohali.
While Justice S.V. Bhatti has GPF and LIC investments, Justice Augustine Masih has mutual funds and PPF as well GPF.
Justice Sandeep Mehta has very little shares in Reliance, and has more investments in mutual funds. He has an insurance policy with Aditya Birla Sun Life as well, apart from holding both GPF and PPF accounts. He has also loaned a little over Rs 50 lakh to his wife, according to the details mentioned on the website.
Justice Vinod Chandran has four mutual funds in his name, while his wife has eight. Both have three joint bank accounts.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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