'The chief public information officer of the Supreme Court shall release the information about the declaration of the assets to the petitioner within four weeks of time,' Bhat ruled.

Chief of CIC Wajahat Habibullah said: 'It's very kind of the Delhi High Court.'

Arvind Kejriwal, a Magsaysay award winner RTI activist, told IANS: 'Now at least, the CJI should submit himself to the RTI Act and stop this unholy controversy.'

Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra said: 'It's a landmark judgement by the Delhi High Court... To us activists, it was clear from the beginning by looking at the constitution of India. There was never a doubt in my mind that the office of the CJI was within the purview of the RTI Act.'

'However, it will be interesting to see whether the Supreme Court would now go against the verdict of the Delhi High Court,' Batra told IANS.

RTI activist Manish Sisodia said: 'This is the classic example of what an ordinary but motivated and committed citizen can do. In this case, one ordinary citizen has forced the mighty Supreme court of India to change its stance.'

'Now its the turn of the government to change the law and make it mandatory, in larger public interest, for judges to declare their assets from time to time ,' he said.