The submission of wealth statement by the judges in the higher judiciary has been in the news for more than two weeks. Chief Justice A.B.M. Khairul Haque submitted his wealth statement to President Zillur Rahman on December 30, 2010.
Inspired by this, the other judges in the Supreme Court, which is comprised of the Appellate Division and the High Court Division, have decided to submit their wealth statements. It is learnt from newspaper reports that four judges of the Supreme Court have already submitted their wealth statements to the CJ. It is expected that the other judges of the Supreme Court will do the same shortly.
The move has been highly commended by the people and the media. In its editorial of January 1, The Daily Star wrote: "That which is regarded as a fundamental requirement of transparency and a guaranteed attribute of a functional and responsible democracy, unfortunately, had to await the initiative of a high functionary of the state to be reminded of and be complied with. Chief Justice A.B.M. Khairul Haque submitted his wealth statement to President Zillur Rahman on Thursday, leading the way for the judges of the Appellate Division and High Court Division to furnish their wealth statements to the CJ.
This is a highly timely step towards filling a transparency and accountability deficit in the highest echelons of judiciary and down below the pyramid."
In its editorial of January 7, Holiday wrote: "Affording the nation a considerable measure of gratification, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (CJ of Bangladesh), Justice A.B.M. Khairul Haque, has kindled optimism through his salutary act recently by submitting his wealth statement to President Zillur Rahman. This man of dignity deserves wholehearted applause for this commendable instance, which others may emulate in this era which once in a blue moon comes across such events of approbation contentment."
The question that arises is whether the wealth reports of the judges in the higher judiciary will be made public.
What has so far transpired is that although the judges have agreed to submit their wealth statements to the CJ, they have not favoured making their wealth reports public on the argument that law does not permit disclosure of the wealth statement of any tax payer.
Let us have a look into the disclosure of assets of judges in the higher judiciary in some countries, including India.
Available information suggests that the judges in the Supreme Court of India decided in August 2009 to publish the details of their assets on the court's website.
Press Trust of India says that the judges of the Delhi High Court began declaring their assets and liabilities from February 2010 after the Supreme Court judges had done the same in September 2009.
Himanshi Dhawan's article "In US, disclosure of judges' wealth is mandatory" in The Times of India on August 24, 2009, says that many countries including the US have brought in legislation to make public disclosure of wealth by judges mandatory.
Argentina, Latvia, Mongolia and South Korea are some of the countries that have laid down legal procedures for disclosure (of judges' wealth). A report prepared by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative pointed out that in Russia and Philippines, there were some restrictions to accessing information but not complete denial.
Following the reported decision of our Supreme Court judges not to make their wealth statements public, an English-language daily, in its editorial of January 5, wrote that the decision of the Supreme Court judges, made at a full court meeting on January 3, that they would submit their wealth reports to the CJ but these reports would not be made public seemed to be at cross purposes with the very objective of the exercise itself. The judges observed in the meeting that the law did not permit disclosure of the wealth report of any tax payer, regardless of him or her being a judge or not. One may well ask then, as some judges actually did in the course of the meeting, what the necessity is for them to submit the wealth statement.
The question that may also come to anybody's mind is what the president will do with the CJ's wealth report. The same question arises in respect of the judges' wealth reports already submitted or to be submitted by them to the CJ. Since the judges also submit their wealth statements along with the income tax returns to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), a mechanism has to be found as to how the best utilisation of the wealth reports submitted by the judges can be ensured.

M. Abdul Latif Mondal is a former Secretary. E-mail: latifm43@gmail.com