New Delhi, Feb 26 The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Thursday a suo motu case concerning what it described as “objectionable” references to the judiciary in a Class 8 social science textbook published by NCERT.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi will take up the matter titled ‘In Re: Social Science Textbook For Grade-8 (part-2) Published by NCERT and Ancillary Issues’.
The development assumes significance as the Chief Justice on Wednesday expressed strong displeasure over a chapter dealing with judicial corruption in the NCERT Class 8 curriculum. The CJI observed that no one would be permitted to defame the judiciary or cast aspersions on its integrity.
Following the apex court’s sharp observations, NCERT removed the Class 8 textbook from its official website. Sources indicated that the government was not pleased with the inclusion of the contentious topic in the publication.
The top court has also taken note of the issue after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, along with Abhishek Singhvi, mentioned the matter before the bench seeking urgent consideration.
The social science textbook for Class 8, published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, discusses various challenges faced by the judicial system, including corruption, a substantial backlog of cases and an insufficient number of judges.
A section in the revised textbook titled “corruption in the judiciary” states that judges are governed by a code of conduct that regulates not only their behaviour within the courtroom but also their conduct outside it.
The Supreme Court will now examine the concerns raised regarding the content and its implications.
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