New Delhi, May 23 -- The Supreme Court on Friday dropped all adverse observations made against the three academic experts - Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar- involved in preparing the NCERT Class 8 textbook containing objectionable remarks against the judiciary. A bench headed by ChiefJustice of India (CJI) SuryaKant accepted the experts' explanation that they had no intention to show the judiciary in a bad light and that the textbook's preparation was a collective effort. The textbook had depicted corruption in the judiciary as a challenge which created a distorted image in the minds of students of impressionable age. Accepting the explanation, the court recalled that portion of its March 11 order which directed the Centre, states, Union Territories and other universities or institutions to disassociate from these experts. The states and Centre were left to take an independent decision without being influenced by the court's earlier direction. The order of the bench stated, "We deem it appropriate to modify paragraph 8 of our March 11, 2026 order and recall the direction to Union, states, UTs or other universities/institutions to disassociate the three applicants from the academic activities. In this regard, we leave it to the Union, states and UTs or other authorities to take an independent decision without being influenced by paragraph 8 of our order." The March 11 order made damning remarks againstthe three experts involved in preparing the content of the textbook, which the Centre later withdrew. The government subsequently formed a committee of experts headed by former Supreme Court judge, justice (retd) Indu Malhotra to revise the textbook and recommend suitable changes. The bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, further deleted other adverse remarks contained in the March 11 order which alleged that the experts acted "deliberately" and "knowingly" and had misrepresented facts about the judiciary. The order passed on Friday stated, "Similarly, the remarks that the three applicants acted deliberately and knowinglyand misrepresented the factsare recalled in view of their explanation. Consequently, it is clarified it was a collective decision." The court said, "Our observations will be in context of the content and not the individual. Let sensationalism be part of reporting but let the dialogue between the senior counsels and court not be based on such reports." On March 16, the Ministry of Education constituted theOversight Committee headed by justice Malhotra having two other members - former Attorney General KK Venugopal and Prakash Singh who is vice-chancellor of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal university in Uttarakhand. In addition, the Centre also associated thehead of National Judicial Academy at Bhopal for the revision and finalisation of the curriculum for Class 8 and higher classes. Even the 20-member NSTC was reconstituted under the chairmanship of former vice chancellor MC Pant and co-chaired by mathematician Manjul Bhargava, who is a professor at Princeton University....