Supreme Court Withdraws Order Blacklisting Academics Over NCERT Judiciary Chapter

The Supreme Court of India has withdrawn its March 11 order that blacklisted three academics involved in drafting a controversial chapter on the judiciary in the NCERT Class 8 Social Science textbook. The educators included Professor Michel Danino, Suvarna Divakar, and Alok Prasanna Kumar.

On May 22, the court heard petitions filed by the three academics and modified the portion of its earlier order that had directed the central government, state governments, and Union Territories to sever academic ties with them.

The order was issued by a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi. The bench also withdrew the remarks made in its March 11 order stating that the academics had deliberately misrepresented facts to portray the Indian judiciary negatively before Class 8 students.

Supreme Court Modifies Earlier Observations

While modifying its previous order on May 23, the Supreme Court stated that in light of the explanations provided in the petitions filed by the applicants, it was appropriate to withdraw the directions issued to the central government, state governments, Union Territories, universities, and educational institutions asking them to discontinue academic associations with the three scholars.

The court clarified that the central government, state governments, Union Territories, public universities, and educational institutions are free to make independent decisions without being influenced by the observations made in the March 11 order.

Academics Argued Textbook Drafting Was a Collective Process

During the hearing, counsel representing the petitioners argued that drafting textbook content is not the work of a single individual but rather a collective academic process. In response, the court observed that its earlier remarks were directed toward the content itself and not specifically against any individual.

However, during the latest hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the central government, stated that the government would not maintain any association with the three academics.