NCERT Textbook Row: Centre Tells Supreme Court High-Level Committee Will Redraft Judiciary Chapter
The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that a high‑level, three‑member expert committee will redraft the controversial judiciary‑related chapter in the NCERT Class‑8 social‑science textbook, following a row over its references to “corruption in the judiciary.”
What triggered the row
A section in the revised Class‑8 NCERT textbook discussed “corruption in the judiciary,” leading to strong criticism from within the legal‑judicial establishment and triggering suo motu proceedings by the Supreme Court. The Court castigated the chapter as “highly contemptuous” and “irresponsible,” and initially barred circulation and teaching from the book.
What the Centre told the Court
The Union government assured the Supreme Court that it has now constituted a three‑member expert panel comprising former Attorney General K. K. Venugopal, former Supreme Court judge Justice Indu Malhotra, and Justice Aniruddha Bose (former Calcutta High Court chief justice) to review and redraft the chapter. The Court has accepted this undertaking and closed the suo motu case, while making it clear that the re‑written chapter cannot be introduced without prior vetting by this committee.
Wider implications for NCERT and authors
The Supreme Court also directed the Centre and all state governments to disassociate from the three original academic authors of the judiciary chapter and barred them from future involvement in government‑sponsored academic projects. The ruling has sparked debate over the boundaries of critical pedagogy in school curricula versus the protection of institutional dignity, and over how judicial power is represented in civic‑education materials.
