The Supreme Court on Thursday banned the publication and re-printing of the National Council of Educational Research and Training’s new Class 8 social science textbook, which included a section on “corruption in the judiciary”, reported Live Law.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi told the Union government and state education departments to ensure that all copies of the book, printed or digital, are removed from public access, according to Bar and Bench.
The NCERT is an educational body that advises the Union government on school syllabi.
A chapter on “The role of the judiciary in our society” in the new Class 8 social science book had listed “corruption at various levels of the judiciary” as among the challenges that the judicial system faces, reported The Indian Express on Wednesday.
Later in the day, the Supreme Court said that it had taken suo moto cognisance of the matter. “I will not allow anyone on earth to taint the integrity of the institution and defame the institution,” the chief justice said.
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Appearing for the Union government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Thursday apologised to the Supreme Court and said that the NCERT had withdrawn the Class 8 social science textbook, reported Bar and Bench.
However, the bench said that the press release issued by the NCERT did not have a “single word of apology”, according to Live Law. It directed the NCERT, in coordination with the Centre and state government to ensure that “all copies of the book currently in circulation, whether held in storage, retail outlets, or educational institutions, are seized and removed from public access”. It also said that classes should not be held based on the book.
The court issued a contempt of court notice to the Department of School Education and NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklan. It told the NCERT director to submit the names of those who were involved in preparing the chapter in question. The director was also told to furnish the minutes of the meeting where the chapter was discussed and finalised.
The bench also objected to the NCERT director’s reply when the row about the chapter broke out, describing it as “contemptuous and reckless”.
There appeared to be a “calculated move to undermine the institutional authority and demean dignity of the institution”, said the bench. It added that the chapter was allowed to be published "unchecked" and that “it eroded the stature of the judiciary”, reported Live Law.
The court said that it might constitute a panel to fix responsibility after receiving compliance reports from the NCERT, the Centre and state governments.
The book, which had been available for sale on Monday, stated that despite a code of conduct that governs judges and a mechanism for receiving complaints, citizens “do experience corruption at various levels of the judiciary”.
The older version of the book only described the role of the judiciary, the structure of the courts and access to them, according to The Indian Express. It did not mention corruption, but had a paragraph about delays in hearings.
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