In a fresh development in the Class 8 NCERT book row, the three individuals barred by the Supreme Court from any future state appointments over drafting chapter on "corruption in judiciary", have approached the Supreme Court with applications seeking to present their case.
The Supreme Court on March 11 had directed the Centre and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to exclude three experts, Michel Danino, educator Suparna Diwakar, and legal researcher Alok Prasanna Kumar, from any role in preparing school curriculum or holding any position in state bodies, following their association with the controversial Class 8 textbook chapter on the judiciary.
Appearing before the court, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing Alok Prasanna Kumar, submitted that the intent of the content was not to target the judiciary alone. He argued that the material, part of a larger book, addresses challenges faced not just by the judiciary but also by the legislature and executive.
Sankaranarayanan emphasized that due process had been followed in preparing the content. "They are not fly-by-night authors. They are respected individuals. A new committee has now been constituted," he told the court.
Senior Advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for Prof Michael, informed the bench that detailed submissions had already been filed.
Meanwhile, Senior Advocate J Sai Deepak, representing Suparna Diwakar, underscored that the work was a collective effort. "This was a collaborative process and no single individual had sole authorship or decision-making authority," he submitted.
Taking note of the submissions, the bench led by the Chief Justice of India observed that the applications filed by the three individuals are not currently on record. The court directed that, after curing procedural defects, the matter be listed on a subsequent date.
The court further noted that affidavits had been filed by the three individuals referred to in its March 11 order, which had issued certain directions concerning them.
However, as the applications are not listed at present, the bench instructed that the case be taken up after necessary compliances are completed.
The top court had also directed the Union government to constitute a committee of domain experts to review such matters. The panel will include a former judge, an educationist, and a senior legal expert.
CJI Surya Kant today said that the experts committee should not be confined only to the class 8 chapter but should review all aspects on content across NCERT books.
The top court today took on record the compliance affidavit filed by a three-member committee comprising Justice Indu Malhotra, Senior Advocate KK Venugopal and Mr Prakash Singh VC of Garhwal University.
The court said that this committee shall collaborate with NJA Bhopal to finalise the curriculum of class 8 and higher grades in compliance with NCERT syllabus dealing with legal studies.
"NCERT has also issued notification on April 2 whereby a high-powered committee for preparation of national syllabus and teacher learning committee has been reconstituted.
The details of the 20 distinguished members including Mr MC Pant being the chairman, has been constituted. We take both the orders/notification on record as well as compliance affidavit" the court recorded in its order today.
