New Delhi, March 11 -- Acting tough against three experts involved in drafting of a controversial chapter in NCERT's class 8 social science book containing "offending" contents on corruption in the judiciary, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre and all state governments to disassociate from them.
The apex court directed the Centre to constitute a committee of domain experts within a week for the purpose of finalising the curriculum of NCERT's legal studies of not only class 8 but higher classes also.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant was informed that the chapter was drafted by the textbook development team under the chairmanship of professor Michel Danino and consisting of members Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar.
"At the outset, we have no reason to doubt that professor Michel Danion and his associates Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar either do not have reasonable informed knowledge with respect to Indian judiciary and/or they deliberately and knowingly misrepresented the facts in order to project a negative image of Indian judiciary before the students of class 8...," the bench said.
The top court said it sees no reason as to why these persons are associated in any manner for the purpose of preparation of curriculum or for finalisation of textbooks for the next generation of children.
It directed the Centre, state governments and Union Territories, universities, and public institutions receiving government funds to "disassociate three of them forthwith and not to assign any responsibility which incur fully or partially public funds".
It said this order, however, shall be subject to their approaching the top court for modification along with an explanation, if any, they wish to tender.
The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, said it was "equally perturbed" with the stand taken by NCERT director in his affidavit that the chapter has been "duly rewritten".
"We direct that if at all chapter 4 of the subject textbook has been rewritten, the same shall not be published unless it is approved by a committee comprising domain experts," it said.
The bench said the Centre should also revisit the composition of the National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC), especially those with whom the offending chapter was digitally shared by members of the textbook development team.
It noted that after it had passed the February 26 order in the matter, some elements in "so-called social media" had acted and reacted irresponsibly.
"We firmly believe in catching the bull by the horn. We accordingly direct the Government of India to identify such sites, the persons behind running those sites and furnish their full details to enable us to take suitable action," it said, adding that law must take its own course against "mischief mongers".
The bench directed the Centre to constitute a committee of domain experts which may preferably include one former senior judge, one eminent academician and one renowned practitioner in law.
It said it would be appreciated if the committee of domain experts also associates National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, for the purpose of finalising the NCERT's curriculum of legal studies.
The bench said it found it "slightly disappointing" that not a single eminent jurist was included if NCERT wished to teach the students about judiciary.
"We, however, leave it to the discretion of the competent authority for reconstitution of the NSTC," it said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.