The Central government on Friday informed the Supreme Court that it has constituted a high-level committee comprising former Attorney General K.K. Venugopal and former Supreme Court judges Justice Indu Malhotra and Justice Aniruddha Bose to prepare a revised version of the chapter on the judiciary in the Class VIII NCERT textbook.
Supreme Court of India
The Central government on Friday informed the Supreme Court that it has constituted a high-level committee comprising former Attorney General K.K. Venugopal and former Supreme Court judges Justice Indu Malhotra and Justice Aniruddha Bose to prepare a revised version of the chapter on the judiciary in the Class VIII NCERT textbook.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi, “We have formed the committee to draft the chapter. Mr Venugopal will be a member of the committee. Justice Indu Malhotra will also be a part. We have also requested Justice Aniruddha Bose of the National Judicial Academy to be part of it.”
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The case arose out of concerns surrounding a section in the Class 8 Social Science textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part II), which dealt with the theme of “corruption in the judiciary.” The Court had earlier taken exception to the manner in which the subject was addressed and sought corrective measures.
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Taking note of the government’s decision to entrust the exercise to a committee comprising legal and judicial experts, the Bench closed the proceedings, expressing satisfaction that appropriate steps had been initiated to revisit the material.
The issue first came to the Court’s attention in February after concerns were raised regarding the content of the chapter. The Court had taken suo motu cognisance, observing that the matter required immediate scrutiny.
Subsequently, it directed that the textbook be withdrawn in all forms, including printed and digital copies, noting that the content appeared to undermine the institutional integrity of the judiciary.
On March 11, the Court expressed concern over NCERT’s stand that the chapter had already been revised for the 2026–27 academic session, particularly as the identities of those involved in the rewriting process had not been disclosed. It had also directed that individuals associated with the earlier version should not be involved in curriculum-related work.
The constitution of the expert panel by the Centre has now paved the way for a fresh, vetted version of the chapter, leading to the closure of the proceedings.
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