The year 2008 saw the supreme court embroiled in several controversies, from serious allegations of corruption at the highest level of the judiciary,[100] expensive private holidays at the tax payers expense,[101] refusal to divulge details of judges' assets to the public,[102] secrecy in the appointments of judges',[103] to refusal to make information public under the Right to Information Act.[104] The chief justice K. G. Balakrishnan invited a lot of criticism for his comments on his post not being that of a public servant, but that of a constitutional authority.[105] He later went back on this stand.[106] The judiciary has come in for serious criticisms from former presidents Pratibha Patil and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam for failure in handling its duties.[107] Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, has stated that corruption is one of the major challenges facing the judiciary, and suggested that there is an urgent need to eradicate this menace.[108]