New Delhi: Three scholars hired by the NCERT as experts – Professor Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar – who were banned for life by the Supreme Court “for projecting a negative image of the judiciary” by mentioning corruption in the judiciary in a Class 8 textbook, approached the high court on Monday seeking a review of the order. “The textbooks of classes 6 and 7 deal with issues… faced by the legislature, the Election Commission and the executive… We want to show the processes that have been followed… These are academics with a lot of credibility,” the petitioners’ lawyer said.
Appearing for the three, senior advocate Arvind Datar, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Sai Deepak told the court that the blacklisting of the academics has serious implications and requested the bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi to urgently entertain these hearing requests.
CJI Kant asked: “Are you defending your actions?” Sankaranarayanan responded by saying, “We are giving context (to what was written in the Class VIII book). I was present when the newspaper article was mentioned in court and told how the judiciary is being pointed out (over the prevalence of corruption).”For Danino, Datar said: “The court may consider your detailed explanation.” Deepak said, “It was a collective effort and no individual had the final say.”SC directed the registry to include the hearing request. He said no intervention in this matter by others would be allowed.Appearing before the Education Ministry, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj spoke before the court about forming two committees to examine the existing curriculum to remove intemperate references to the judiciary in school textbooks and also to suggest a framework in consultation with the National Judicial Academy.
