New Delhi, Oct. 2: Former Chief Justice of India V.N. Khare today criticised Allahabad High Court for refusing to place information about its judges’ assets in the public domain.

“It’s a completely ill-advised move,” he said. “The institution (the judiciary) is based on the faith and confidence of the public. If you hide, you become a victim of suspicion. You become suspect.”

Khare said the ultimate result would be people would start losing faith in the system but added that the court could still overturn its decision. “It’s not a quasi-judicial or judicial order. It’s an administrative order. It can be overturned easily,” he said.

Activists campaigning for judicial accountability also criticised the high court, which had in a unanimous September 12 resolution decided to reveal information about judges’ assets only to the court’s chief justice.

This was after the Supreme Court recently agreed to draw up the modalities for making such information public. The apex court’s decision is, however, not binding on other courts.

Of the 21 high courts in the country, only eight have so far agreed to place information about judges’ assets on their official websites. They include the high courts of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, Rajasthan, Bombay, Kerala, Madras and Sikkim. Kerala High Court has already placed such information on its website.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who has been campaigning for judicial accountability, said members of the bar and the public should come forward if they saw discrepancies in declarations by judges.