Three educators blacklisted by India's Supreme Court over a controversial chapter in an NCERT Class 8 textbook have sought a hearing. The chapter covered corruption in the judiciary. Chief Justice Kant agreed to hear them.
Michel Danino, Suparna Divakar, and Alok Prasanna Kumar, members of NCERT's Textbook Development Team, urged India's Supreme Court for a hearing after being blacklisted.
The court, taking suo motu cognisance, remarked that the educators either lacked reasonable knowledge of the Indian judiciary or deliberately misrepresented facts to project a negative image to impressionable Class 8 students. It directed the Government of India, states, union territories, universities, and public institutions to disassociate from them in any public-funded roles.
The order was passed without notice or hearing them, though they were given liberty to seek relief. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan submitted, "These are not fly-by-night academics. They have street cred." Advocates J. Saideepak Iyer and Arvind Datar also requested a hearing.
"We definitely propose to hear the three of them," Chief Justice Kant responded. The government informed the court of an expert committee with retired Justice Indu Malhotra, senior advocate KK Venugopal, and Prakash Singh to finalise the NCERT Legal Studies curriculum. In February, the court had banned the textbook after observing the chapter aimed to malign the judiciary, with the Centre withdrawing over 82,000 copies.
