SC Takes Cognisance of NCERT Class 8 Chapter on Corruption in Judiciary
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the contents of the NCERT class 8 textbook referring to corruption in the judiciary and termed it a matter of “serious concern”. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, was urged by senior advocate Kapil Sibal that “Class 8 children are being taught about corruption in the judiciary. This is a matter of serious concern.”
“I will not allow anyone to defame the institution. The law will take its own course,” the CJI said.
“I did my duty as the head of the institution, I realized… This seems like a calculated move. I won’t say much.”
Justice Bagchi said the book appeared to go against the basic structure of the Constitution.
“Please wait for a few days. The Bar and the Bench are agitated. All the high court judges are agitated. I will take up the matter suo motu. I will not allow anyone to defame the institution. The law will take its own course,” the CJI said. he said.
Justice Kant then said that the high court took suo motu cognizance of the matter.
Corruption, backlog of cases and lack of sufficient number of judges are among the “challenges” faced by the judicial system, according to NCERT’s new social science textbook for class 8.
The new book’s chapter on “judicial corruption” states that judges are bound by a code of conduct that governs not only their behavior in court, but also how they behave outside of court.
