New Delhi, Mar 12: The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday expressed concern over the claim by the National Council of Educational Research and Training that a controversial chapter in the Class 8 social science textbook had already been rewritten.
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, directed that the revised Chapter 4 must not be published unless it receives approval from a committee of domain experts. The court said it had not been informed about the identities of the experts who allegedly prepared or approved the rewritten chapter for the 2026–27 academic session.
The observation came during the hearing of a suo motu case related to content in the textbook that referred to corruption within the judiciary. Earlier, the court had ordered a complete halt on further printing, publication, or digital circulation of the book due to what it described as “offending” material.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the bench that the revised chapter would not be included in textbooks until it undergoes scrutiny by a panel of subject experts. He added that the expert committee would review not only the disputed chapter but other related content as well.
According to an affidavit submitted by NCERT, the revised text was drafted by a textbook development team headed by Professor Michel Danino with members Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar. The affidavit also stated that these individuals would not be involved in future NCERT activities.