Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Coming down heavily on the NCERT’s publication of Class 8 social science textbook chapter with references to “corruption in judiciary”, the Supreme Court on February 26 ordered an immediate nationwide withdrawal and imposed a complete blanket ban on the textbook, observing that references to “corruption in the judiciary” in the chapter, prima facie, reflected a “discernible underlying agenda to undermine the institutional authority and demean the dignity of the judiciary”.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant, while hearing the suo motu matter titled “In Re: Social Science Textbook for Grade–8 (Part-2) published by NCERT and ancillary issues,” issued show-cause notice to the Secretary of School Education, Ministry of Education and the NCERT Director, as to why action under the Contempt of Courts Act or any other law should not be taken against them. The controversy pertains to Chapter 4 of the Grade 8 textbook titled “Exploring Society: India and Beyond”, which includes a sub-topic on “Corruption in the Judiciary”.
The Bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, observed that although the chapter purported to discuss the role of the judiciary, it “washes off with one stroke of the pen the illustrious history associated with the Supreme Court, the High Courts, and the District Courts,” and “conspicuously omits the substantive contributions made by these institutions towards the preservation of our democratic fabric.”