Lakshmanan, a final variable needs to be initialized no later than the end of a constructor call and not in any other method.
From the KB book:
The rule is: if you declare a final instance variable,you�re obligated to give it an explicit value, and you must do so by the time the constructor completes.
Also, a final variable needs to be explicitly initialized: it won't be given a default value by the compiler.
Sashi