New Delhi, February 25 The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a suo motu case on Thursday concerning "objectionable" statements about the judiciary in NCERT textbooks.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi will hear the case titled 'In Re: Social Science Textbook For Grade-8 (part-2) Published by NCERT and Ancillary Issues'.
This assumes significance as the CJI strongly objected to a chapter on judicial corruption in NCERT's Class 8 curriculum on Wednesday, stating that no one on earth would be allowed to defame the judiciary and tarnish its integrity.
Following the apex court's criticism, NCERT removed the Class 8 textbook from its website, with sources indicating that the government was not pleased with the inclusion of the controversial topic in the book.
Earlier in the day, the top court took note of the "objectionable" statements about the judiciary in NCERT textbooks after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, along with Abhishek Singhvi, raised the matter for urgent consideration.
NCERT's (National Council of Educational Research and Training) social science textbooks for Class 8 state that corruption, a large backlog of cases, and a shortage of judges are among the challenges faced by the judicial system.
A section titled "corruption in the judiciary" in the new textbooks states that judges are bound by a code of conduct that governs not only their behavior in court, but also how they conduct themselves outside of it.