The Central government told the Supreme Court of India it has formed a panel including Indu Malhotra, Aniruddha Bose and KK Venugopal to redraft NCERT judiciary textbooks.
NEW DELHI: The Central government informed the Supreme Court that it has set up a committee to re-draft the judiciary chapter in NCERT textbooks, consisting of former Supreme Court Justices Indu Malhotra and Aniruddha Bose, along with former Attorney General KK Venugopal.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and VM Pancholi, made the submission and said,
“We have formed the committee to draft the chapter. Mr Venugopal will be a member of the committee. Justice Indu Malhotra will also be a part. We have also requested Justice Aniruddha Bose from the National Judicial Academy will also be there.”
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Following this statement, the Court disposed of the suo motu petition it had initiated concerning the chapter.
The textbook at issue, Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Class 8, Vol. 2), included a section on “corruption in the judiciary” within a chapter titled “The role of the judiciary in our society,” which sparked the controversy.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal first raised the matter on February 25, at which point the Court said it had already taken cognisance. NCERT later issued a press note calling the contested passage an inadvertent error of judgment, saying it would withdraw that portion and rewrite it after proper consultation.
When the case was heard on February 26, the Court ordered a ban on the production and distribution of the book and sought the identities of the National Syllabi Board members responsible for the chapter. It also issued show-cause notices under the Contempt of Courts Act to the Department of School Education and NCERT Director Dr Dinesh Prasad Saklani, directing them to explain why action should not be taken against those responsible.
At a subsequent hearing, the Court criticised the NCERT Director’s claim that the chapter had already been rewritten, calling the response “disturbing” because it lacked details about the experts who revised the chapter or those who approved the revised version.
The Court directed the Central government to constitute a committee comprising one retired judge, one eminent academician and one distinguished lawyer. It ordered that the expert panel be formed within a week and that the National Judicial Academy at Bhopal be consulted in preparing legal studies content.
The Bench also instructed that the Union government and states should not engage Professor Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar or Alok Prasanna Kumar, all of whom were involved in drafting the earlier contested chapter, after the NCERT Director acknowledged Danino’s involvement and said he had been assisted by Diwakar and Kumar.
The Court further called for action against what it described as irresponsible activity on social media.
The Bench said,
“Some elements in so called social media have acted irresponsibly. We firmly believe in catching bull by its horns. We direct the Government of India to identify the platforms and the persons who have indulged in so for lawful action to be taken. The law must take its course. Even if they are hiding in this country somewhere, we will not spare them,”
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