The Supreme Court has issued notice under the Contempt of Courts Act to NCERT Director Dr Dinesh Prasad Saklani, while also imposing a blanket ban on the class VIII NCERT book carrying the controversial chapter on corruption in the judiciary.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, during the hearing on the suo moto case taken over the NCERT textbook, said this was an outcome of a “deep-rooted conspiracy” and those responsible must be brought before the law.
In the notice to Saklani and NCERT, the court asked them to explain why suitable action should not be initiated under the Contempt of Courts Act against them and those behind the offending chapters. "We would like to have a deeper probe. We need to find who is responsible, and we will see who is there. Heads must roll! We will not close the case," CJI Kant said. Imposing a blanket ban on the book, the court also ordered a seizure of all physical copies, along with the takedown of its digital forms.
What the court order said
1) “The NCERT, in coordination with Union and State education departments, are directed to ensure that all copies of the book, hard copy or soft copy, whether held in retail outlets or schools is removed from public access.”
2) “The NCERT Director is required to submit the names of the members of the National Syllabi Board who wrote the offending chapter. The original minutes of meetings of the part wherein the offending chapter was deliberated and finalised shall be produced on the next date of hearing.”
3) The SC also took objection to the communication by the NCERT Director to the Supreme Court after the controversial portions came to light. "Instead of filing an introspection of what has been written in the book in an extremely contemptuous and reckless manner, the NCERT director wrote back defending the contents," the court noted.
4) The court called this a calculated move to undermine the authority of the judiciary and said: “If this is to go unchecked, it will erode the sanctity of judicial office.”
5) “It is a calculated move. The entire teaching community will be told that the Indian judiciary is corrupt and that cases are pending. Then students and then parents. This is a deep-rooted conspiracy!"
6) The text fails to recognise the role of the judiciary, which upheld the basic structure doctrine.
7) “The choice of words and expressions in the book did not seem like a bona fide error. It seems to us that the choice of words and expressions in the book may not be simpliciter inadvertent or bona fide error.”
8) “We will set up a panel to go through this and see who is responsible after examining the compliance reports and other details. We need to find who is responsible, and we will see who is there. Heads must roll!”
9) On the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s apology that the two individuals who prepared the two chapters will never work with UGC or any ministry, the CJI said: That will be very easy then, and they go scot-free. They fired the gunshot. The judiciary is bleeding today. When there is a mounting attack on us, we know how to maintain balance. These copies are available in the market."
10) The CJI said that he got many phone calls requesting him to take action. "I have got hundreds and hundreds of calls. They urged me to take action," he said.