The Supreme Court on Tuesday closed suo motu proceedings pertaining to the contents of the class 8 NCERT textbook referring to corruption in the judiciary after it was informed that the chapter was withdrawn.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the apex court that the textbooks with the new chapter are in circulation. The top court also clarified that a statement recorded in its May 22 order, that the curriculum had not been placed before the committee at all levels and therefore could not be termed a collective decision, was only the submission of Solicitor General Mehta and was neither an observation nor an order of the court.
The top court had earlier modified its March 11 order that had directed the Centre, states and others to disassociate from three academicians following a row over the controversial chapter on corruption in the judiciary. The apex court, which considered the explanation given by the three academicians, had left it open to the Centre, states, Union Territories, public universities and institutions that receive funds from the central or state governments to take an independent decision on the issue without being influenced by its observations made in the March 11 order.
The bench was hearing a suo motu case concerning NCERT’s Class 8 social science book, which contained “offending” contents on corruption in the judiciary. The bench passed the order while hearing an application filed by the three academicians, who explained their stand and said that no individual had the sole say in the drafting of the content and it was a collective process.
