New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Wednesday strongly objected to a chapter on judicial corruption in the NCERT‘s Class 8 social science curriculum, prompting the syllabus-setting body to withdraw the contentious textbook from its website.
A three-judge bench comprising the CJI and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi took suo motu cognizance of the “objectionable” statements about the judiciary in the new textbook after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, alongside Abhishek Singhvi, mentioned the matter for urgent consideration.
The NCERT social science textbook for Class 8 says corruption, a massive backlog of cases, and the lack of an adequate number of judges are among the challenges faced by the judicial system.
After stern words by the Supreme Court that it will not allow “anyone on earth” to tarnish the judiciary’s integrity, the NCERT pulled the textbook from its website, with sources saying the government was livid with the controversial references in the curriculum. The council, responsible for school education curriculum, is also considering the removal of the controversial portions from the books already printed, sources said. Several schools in the national capital, however, said they had no directive yet about whether or not to teach the portions in question.
The NCERT is said to have called an internal meeting to review the recommendations of the subject experts involved in the chapter and the officials who approved it.
NCERT Chairman Dinesh Prasad Saklani did not respond to calls and messages on the issue.
The government sources said while the NCERT is an autonomous body, the officials responsible for adding chapters should have applied their minds. If the issue of corruption was to be included in the textbook, it should have been about all three organs (the executive, the legislature and the judiciary), they said.
“We are very disturbed as members of this institution to find that children of Class 8 are being taught about corruption in the judiciary. It is part of the NCERT book. We have great stake in the institution it (the chapter) is entirely scandalous. We have the copies of the book,” Sibal said in court.
“I can assure you all that I am fully aware of this,” the CJI said, adding that he received various calls and messages and many high court judges were “perturbed”. PTi
