CJAR has urged the Supreme Court to overturn the ban on the textbook and its authors, and allow a healthy public discussion of the achievements of the judiciary along with its challenges instead of relegating them to whispers for fear of contempt.
New Delhi: The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) has expressed concern over the recent Supreme Court order in which the apex court directed the Union and state governments to disassociate Professor Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar from all publicly funded curricular work.
The three had supervised the writing of Chapter IV of the NCERT Class 8 textbook. Exploring society: India and beyondwhich contained a section on corruption in the judiciary. The court had banned the book in February in a suo motu case. The March 11 order was issued without hearing from the three experts.
“We note with anguish that the Supreme Court order banning the NCERT Class 8 textbook and banning its authors was passed without respecting natural justice. The affected parties, including the authors Prof. Michel Danino, Ms. Suparna Diwakar and Mr. Alok Prasanna Kumar, were not given adequate notice or opportunity to present their case. The principle of audi alter part was not followed up,” CJAR said in a statement on April 4.
CJAR said the court mechanically reached a conclusion that the chapter contained “a discernible agenda to undermine the institutional authority and degrade the dignity of the judiciary”, from its first hearing.
“This conclusion is factually incorrect. In fact, the 18-page chapter begins with a quote that pays tribute to the judiciary, details its structure, highlights landmark cases protecting fundamental rights and devotes only four pages to challenges and barely one page to corruption. The latter refers to the Bangalore Principles, the CPGRMS accountability mechanism and a speech by former CJI judge BR Gavai,” the CJAR said in the statement.
CJAR noted that the particular section ends by noting that “constant efforts are being made at both the union and state levels to build trust and increase transparency in the judicial system.” This balanced and constructive approach was completely overlooked, according to the statement.
“The Order also constitutes a judicial overreach in the domain of the executive. NCERT is an autonomous body and its textbooks were developed under the National Curriculum Framework 2023 through structured committees of experts. Without examining or reasoning on the illegality, the Court banned the book and assumed the role of pedagogical expert, a position which it is not prepared to occupy,” CJAR said.
“The authors’ right to reputation under Article 21 was summarily dispensed with and academic and expression freedoms were overridden under Article 19(1)(a) without reference to the Court’s own established jurisprudence against prior restraint,” it added.
The statement added that the challenges faced by the legislature and the executive which include corruption are discussed in the textbooks of classes 7 and 8 without controversy.
CJAR has urged the Supreme Court to overturn the ban on the textbook and its authors, and allow a healthy public discussion of the achievements of the judiciary along with its challenges instead of relegating them to whispers for fear of contempt.
“Therefore, the judiciary has not been singled out but has been reasonably criticized as an institution that is not perfect and requires corrective measures like other branches of the state. CJAR urges the Supreme Court to overturn the ban on the textbook and its authors, and allow healthy public discussion of the achievements of the judiciary along with its challenges instead of relegating them to whispers for fear of contempt,” CJAR said.
This article was published on April 6, two thousand and twenty-six, at five thirty-two minutes in the afternoon.
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