The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said, the higher judiciary is not less accountable and different from their counterparts at the lower court level on the issue of the declaration of assets. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice A P Shah said, the higher the judge is placed in the judicial hierarchy, the greater is the standard of accountability. <br/><br/>The bench, in a major verdict, held that the Chief Justice of India's office did fall within the ambit of the RTI Act. It said that the onus to disclose assets is greater on the part of the Supreme Court and High Court judges. The Court said, if declaration of assets by a subordinate judicial officer is seen as essential to enforce accountability at that level, then the need for such declaration by judges of the Constitutional courts is even greater. The bench said that the lower court judges have been declaring their assets for quite some time in accordance with the rules governing their service.<br/><br/>In a related development, the Delhi High Court today said it will soon make public details of the assets of its judges. Justice Shah made the announcement to this effect while pronouncing the verdict in the jam-packed courtroom. The Delhi High Court would be the third High Court to reveal information about its judges' assets after Madras and Kerala High Courts. <br/><br/>The whole process of making judges' assets public was initiated after the Supreme Court, under huge pressure from within and outside, had agreed to disclose assets of its judges and put it on its website on 2nd November, last year. The declaration of the CJI and others came after months of controversy triggered by right to information petitions seeking transparency on the assets of judges of higher judiciary that culminated in a battle in the Delhi High Court.