The worth of a judge

Judges of the Supreme Court of India have made their assets public after the Delhi High Court held on September 2, 2009 that the office of the Chief Justice of India came under the Right To Information Act. The list of assets has been posted on the Supreme Court’s website.

The apex court’s second senior most judge, Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, has placed the value of his declared assets, including flats, buildings, shares, mutual fund, fixed deposits and provident fund at over Rs 60 lakh. According to a listing of the assets of all Supreme Court judges, barring one, in The Indian Express (IE) of November 4, 2009, Kapadia owned "a flat in Bombay’s Judges Society (Rs 22 lakh pro rata cost of construction); shares worth Rs 22 lakh (companies not mentioned); mutual funds of Rs 1.80 lakh; fixed deposits of Rs 3.85 lakh; Public Provident Fund of Rs 12.5 lakh and jewelery worth rupees one lakh.” His wife’s assets are "a flat in Bombay; shares worth Rs 19.5 lakh; mutual funds worth Rs 1.5 lakh; fixed deposits of Rs 2.60 lakh; Public Provident Fund of Rs 9.5 lakh; inherited jewelry worth Rs 9.5 lakh.” Neither she nor her husband own a vehicle.

Justice Sarosh Kapadia: listing his assets

Born on September 29, 1947 and enrolled as an advocate on September 10, 1974, Kapadia practiced in the Bombay High Court, where he was appointed Additional Judge on October 8, 1991, as per information available on the internet. Appointed Permanent Judge of the Bombay High Court on March 23, 1993 and Judge of the Special Court (Trial of Offences Relating to Transaction in Securities) Act, 1992 on October 15, 1999, Kapadia rose to be Chief Justice of the Uttaranchal High Court on August 5, 2003. He was elevated to the Bench of the Supreme Court of India on December18, 2003. Kapadia is due to retire on September 29, 2012.

As an interesting footnote, it may be mentioned that several judges from the community have first names starting with the letter ‘S’: Sam Bharucha, Sam Variava, Shiavax Vazifdar, Shahrukh Kathawalla and, of course Sarosh Kapadia.