SC To Hear On Thursday Suo Motu Case On NCERT Book Chapter On Corruption In Judiciary
CJI Surya Kant objected to a chapter in the NCERT's Class 8 curriculum, saying that nobody on earth will be allowed to defame the judiciary.
Published : February 25, 2026 at 8:41 PM IST
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear a suo motu case on Thursday regarding objectionable statements about the judiciary in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbook. According to the causelist uploaded on the apex court’s website, a bench of 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'.
The CJI on Wednesday strongly objected to a chapter on judicial corruption in the NCERT's Class 8 curriculum, saying that nobody on earth will be allowed to defame the judiciary and taint its integrity. Later in the day, government sources said the reference to 'corruption in the judiciary' would be removed from NCERT Class VIII textbooks.
The NCERT social science textbooks for Class 8 say corruption, a massive backlog of cases, and the lack of an adequate number 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 behaviour in court, but also how they conduct themselves outside it.
Today, a bench led by CJI took suo motu cognizance of the "objectionable" statements about the judiciary in NCERT textbooks after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, alongside senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, mentioned the matter for urgent consideration.
"We are very disturbed as members of this institution to find that children of Class 8 are being taught about corruption in the judiciary. It is part of the NCERT book. We have a great stake in the institution… it (the chapter) is entirely scandalous. We have the copies of the book," Sibal said.
"I can assure you all that I am fully aware of this," the CJI said, adding that he received various calls and messages and many high court judges were "perturbed".
"I will not allow anyone on earth to taint the integrity of the institution and defame the institution. At any cost, I will not permit it. Howsoever high it may be, the law will take its course. I know how to deal with it," a visibly irked CJI said.
Read More
