New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday banned a Class 8 social science textbook containing a chapter on judicial corruption, barring its circulation in any form and asked the school education minister and NCERT chairman to explain why contempt proceedings were not initiated against them, even as the Center offered an unqualified and unqualified apology for the fiasco.On the second day of hearing in the case, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta began by apologizing for the “unforgivable mistake” committed by the two authors of the book and said the government had decided to permanently ban them from participating in the preparation of any textbooks.
However, the SC said it would not accept an apology at this stage and would inquire whether there was a deliberate and calculated design to discredit the agency and damage its reputation. SC: Ensure all hard or soft copies are seized and removed from public access A shot was fired senselessly and the judiciary bled. The aim is to defame the judiciary by telling students, parents and teachers, and society at large, about corruption. As the head of the institution, it is my duty to protect the institution from such horrific and baseless insinuations,” CJI Kant said.A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi ordered: “NCERT, in coordination with the Union and state education departments, ensures that all copies of books (hard or soft) currently in circulation, whether stored in warehouses, retail outlets or educational institutions, are confiscated and archived for public compliance.” Further, it said, “NCERT The Director and the principal of each school to which the book arrives are personally responsible to immediately seize and seal all copies of the book on their school premises and to file a compliance report. Make sure that no guidance is given based on the subject book. Chief secretaries of all states are required to comply. ” It asked NCERT to submit compliance documents within two weeks.“As an adequate precaution, a blanket ban is hereby imposed on any further publication, reprinting or digital dissemination of the book. Any attempt to circumvent this order by electronic means or by changing the title shall be deemed as direct interference, willful violation and contempt of instructions,” it said.The bench headed by the CJI directed NCERT to disclose the names of the persons entrusted with writing the textbook, their qualifications and submit the minutes of the meeting during which the content of the book was considered and finalized. The court posted the matter for further hearing on March 11.The judge said the book described corruption in the judiciary through several complaints against judges, deliberately giving the impression that the judiciary failed to act on these complaints. The Attorney General said the way the book quoted the pending figures and mentioned that “justice delayed is justice denied” seemed to be telling children that justice was denied in India. He said nothing could be further from the truth.Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, AM Singhvi and Vikas Singh termed this section of the textbook as shameful and carefully planned and designed to selectively target the judiciary to malign its image. CJI Kant said politicians, bureaucrats and other professionals are often convicted for various crimes but the judiciary is under blatant attack. He said: “The author forgets that the judiciary has played an important role in protecting the constitution and fundamental rights of citizens and has passed a series of orders to protect democracy in the past 75 years, not to mention the important role of the judiciary in providing free legal aid to poor and marginalized groups in society.” The CJI said that on the day of the news report, the SC general secretary had sought clarification from the NCERT director.
