The Supreme Court has slammed the academicians responsible for writing controversial things about the judiciary in the NCERT book. The court has asked all the institutions receiving funds from the central or state government to immediately end their relations with these people. Along with this, the court has also sought information about those websites and social media handles which had said derogatory things about the judiciary. The court has said that necessary legal action will be taken against these people.
The Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognizance of the chapter written on ‘Judicial Corruption’ in a Class 8 book of NCERT. On February 26, the court had banned the book. An order was also given to remove the PDF file of the book available online on the website. Also, notice was issued to the Secretary of the Department of School Education and the Director of NCERT.
In the hearing held on Wednesday, March 11, the court was told that its order had been followed. All the books have been taken back. In response to the court notice, both the officers have apologized unconditionally. He is also personally present in the court. Expressing satisfaction over this, a bench of 3 judges headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant accepted his apology. However, the judge did not seem convinced by the NCERT director’s contention that the chapter had been rewritten. He said that before publishing the book, it should be shown to a new committee.
The Supreme Court asked the Central Government to form a 3-member committee within a week. A senior former judge, an educationist and a senior lawyer should be kept in it. This committee should decide what should be included in the chapter written about the judiciary. The court also ordered a review of the things written about the judiciary in other school education books. The court said that creating mistrust towards the judiciary in the minds of children will be very fatal for the future.
It is written in the order that the experts who prepared the chapter either do not have knowledge about the judiciary or they deliberately tried to defame the judiciary, therefore, these three experts are not eligible to be kept in such work. No government aided organization should employ Michael Denino, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna. The court has also said that these people can file an application before it for change in this order. The decision will be taken after hearing their side.
Adopting a strict attitude, the judges also talked about teaching a lesson to irresponsible social media accounts. The court has sought from the government details of accounts saying derogatory things about the judiciary in the controversial book case. The Chief Justice said in a stern tone, ‘Even if the people running these accounts are sitting abroad, we will not leave them. We believe in facing the problem head-on and firmly. The law will take its course against those who commit mischief.
