A major controversy broke out in India’s legal and education circles this week after a new NCERT Class 8 Social Science textbook was found to contain a chapter called “Corruption in the Judiciary.” The Supreme Court acted very quickly, taking up the matter on its own on Wednesday and ordering a complete ban on the book by Thursday. All physical copies were ordered to be seized and digital versions were taken down immediately.
The chapter talked about corruption, a huge number of pending cases, and a shortage of judges as serious problems in the Indian court system. It mentioned around 81,000 pending cases in the Supreme Court, over 62 lakh in High Courts, and nearly 4.70 crore in lower courts. While these numbers are not new or secret, the court was deeply upset with how they were presented. It also found that quotes from former Chief Justice B.R. Gavai had been taken out of context, making it look like the judiciary itself had admitted to widespread corruption.
Chief Justice Surya Kant, sitting with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, made his feelings very clear in open court. “I will not allow anyone on the earth to taint the integrity and defame the entire institution,” he said. He also called the whole episode a “deep rooted, well planned conspiracy to defame the judiciary,” and added firmly, “Heads must roll.”
Show cause notices were sent to NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani and the Secretary of School Education. The court warned that if the publication was found to be deliberate, it could amount to criminal contempt.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said sorry on behalf of the Ministry of Education and told the court that only 32 copies had reached the public so far. But the Chief Justice was not satisfied, saying the NCERT’s response had “not a single word of apology.” He said bluntly, “They fired a gunshot and the judiciary is bleeding today.”
NCERT later called the chapter an “error of judgement” and promised to rewrite it. The case will be heard again on March 11.
