New Delhi: NCERT’s new social science textbook for class 8 outlines the major challenges facing the country’s judicial system, including corruption, huge backlog of cases and insufficient number of judges.The revised chapter “The role of the judiciary in our society” not only explains the structure of courts and access to justice but also discusses systemic issues affecting the functioning of the judiciary, news agency PTI reported. Early versions of the textbook focused primarily on the organization and role of courts.Part of the new book discusses corruption within the justice system and its impact on access to justice, particularly for economically disadvantaged groups.“People do experience corruption at all levels of the justice system. For the poor and vulnerable, this can exacerbate access to justice problems. Therefore, there are ongoing efforts at the state and federal levels to build trust and increase transparency in the justice system, including through the use of technology, and to take swift and decisive action to combat any instances of corruption that may arise,” the chapter states.The textbook also provides data on the size of cases pending in each court. It is estimated that there are about 81,000 pending cases in the Supreme Court, 6.24 million cases pending in the High Courts and 4.70 million pending cases in the district and subordinate courts.In addition to highlighting the challenges, the book describes existing accountability mechanisms within the judiciary. It refers to the Centralized Public Grievances Handling and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) as the formal channel for filing complaints.According to the textbook, more than 1,600 complaints were made through CPGRAMS between 2017 and 2021.The chapter also quotes former Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, who in July 2025 spoke about the impact of misconduct and corruption on public trust in the judicial system.“However, the path to rebuilding this trust lies in taking swift, decisive and transparent action to address and resolve these issues… Transparency and accountability are democratic virtues,” he said.
