 Summary of this article
- Supreme Court takes suo motu cognisance, issues contempt notice to NCERT Director and School Education Department.
- Blanket ban on printing and circulation; all physical and digital copies to be withdrawn within two weeks.
- Bench says content may be a “calculated move” but clarifies proceedings are not meant to curb legitimate criticism.
The Supreme Court on Thursday commenced suo motu proceedings over a contentious portion in an NCERT Class 8 Social Science textbook that flagged “corruption in the judiciary” as one of the challenges before the institution, directing that the book’s distribution be stopped immediately and all available copies — both print and digital — be withdrawn from public access.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, registered the case titled “In Re: Social Science Textbook for Grade-8 (Part 2) published by NCERT and ancillary issues.” The court also issued notices under the Contempt of Courts Act to the Department of School Education and the NCERT Director.
Calling for a thorough inquiry into how the content came to be included, the CJI said, “We would like to have a deeper probe. We need to find who is responsible and we will see who are there. Heads must roll! We will not close the case.”
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The Bench ordered a complete prohibition on the printing and circulation of the textbook and placed the onus on the NCERT Director to retrieve copies that had already reached schools. It further directed Principal Secretaries of State education departments to submit compliance reports within two weeks. Details of the National Syllabi Board members associated with drafting the chapter, along with the minutes of the meetings where the text was approved, have also been sought.
'Need To Tolerate Unpopular Views'
BY Supreme Court |
