Supreme Court lifts ban on three academics over textbook chapter

NEW DELHI: Accepting the explanation of three academics - Prof Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar, the Supreme Court Friday lifted the life ban on their association with academic exercises in govt-run universities and institutions. The ban was imposed on them by the SC on March 11 after it took serious umbrage at a chapter in the social studies textbook of NCERT for class VIII in which corruption in the judiciary was mentioned. The SC had held them responsible for 'projecting a negative image of the judiciary' to students of impressionable age. After their counsel explained that they had high regard for the judiciary and that their intention was not to malign the judiciary but to indicate the malaise in the system and pleaded for lenience, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi lifted the ban. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said that the govt has decided not to involve these three academics in any govt related academic exercise or preparation of textbooks in future. He said the govt has received some complaints about certain objectionable cartoons relating to judiciary in other textbooks, which the govt will bring to the notice of the high-powered expert committee headed by former SC judge Indu Malhotra. After getting the views of the expert committee, which may require reconstitution, the govt would take appropriate steps, Mehta said. When the counsel for the three academicians said they had nothing against the judiciary, Justice Bagchi said the apex court's angst was against the content, not against any individual. "We were examining the contents to find out whether it was a balanced presentation about the judiciary. We were not attempting to find out whether it was positive or negative about the judiciary," he said. "The corruption part was mentioned. But there was no mention of the sterling role played by the apex court as the protector of the Constitution and the rights of individuals. The SC's attempt to provide legal aid to the poor, to make judiciary accessible to them was given a complete miss," Justice Bagchi said. On March 11, NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani and school education secretary Sanjay Kumar had tendered unconditional and unqualified apology to the SC for the "major and unpardonable lapse" and promised preventive steps against such faux pas in future. NCERT had told SC that the controversial chapter was drafted by the Textbook Development Team (TDT) under the chairmanship of Prof Michel Danino and comprised Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar. These three will not be associated with any activity of NCERT in future, it had said.