The Supreme Court retracted its remarks against three academics: Professor Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar, and Alok Prasanna Kumar. The Court recently reprimanded them for the content of an NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) class 8 textbook chapter they wrote about corruption in the judiciary.
Supreme Court Withdraws Direction in NCERT Row
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi, changed its order from March 11. They removed the directive stating that the Central government, States, universities, and educational institutions should distance themselves from the three experts and should not engage them in any way.
The Court left it to the governments and relevant authorities to make their own decisions on this matter. Additionally, the Court withdrew its statement that the three experts had intentionally misrepresented facts in the disputed chapter.
Controversy against Three Textbook Experts
After the Supreme Court took notice of the class VIII textbook published by the NCERT, it said that the contents undermined the dignity of the judiciary. Following the Court’s intervention, NCERT issued a press release saying the controversial section was due to a mistake in judgment. They said that they would withdraw that part of the book and rewrite it after proper consultation.
When the case was reviewed on February 26, the apex court placed a complete ban on the production and distribution of the book. The school education body later removed the book from the market and issued an apology for the chapter on the Indian judiciary.
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