New Delhi : The Supreme Court has passed a stringent order against three individuals involved in drafting a controversial chapter on “corruption in the judiciary” in a Class 8 NCERT textbook. Taking serious note of the content and the process followed in preparing the chapter, the Court directed the union government, state governments, universities and all institutions receiving public funds to disassociate from the three authors and refrain from engaging them in any publicly funded academic work.
The Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction with the affidavit submitted by the NCERT director. According to the affidavit, Chapter 8 of the textbook has already been rewritten and will be implemented in the upcoming academic session. The Court took note of submissions stating that the textbook development team, under the Chairmanship of a visiting professor, drafted the chapter that triggered the controversy.
The Court was informed that the draft curriculum was supposed to be deliberated upon by the National Syllabus and Textbook Committee (NSTC), which consists 19 members. However, the controversial chapter was never placed before the full committee. Chief Justice of India (CJI) made strong remarks regarding the authors involved. The Bench observed that Professor Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar either lacked reasonable knowledge of the Indian judiciary or deliberately misrepresented facts, thereby projecting a negative image of the judiciary to Class 8 students.
During the hearing, the CJI also raised concerns about the long-term impact of such individuals occupying academic leadership positions. “What if they are made Vice-Chancellor of a university at some point? That will affect thousands of students,” the Court observed. The Court clarified that the individuals may approach the Supreme Court seeking modification of the order after submitting their response. The Supreme Court also directed NCERT to ensure that the revised chapter is prepared through a proper expert-driven process.
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