Centre apologises in SC over Class 8 NCERT judiciary chapter; CJI says 'want to know who is behind'

The controversy over a Class 8 NCERT Social Sciences chapter on judiciary corruption reached the Supreme Court on Thursday, prompting an apology from the Centre and an assurance of strict action.

Appearing before the court, the government said those responsible for the chapter would face consequences and would be permanently excluded from any future work with the Education Ministry.

“We would like to have a deeper probe. As head of the judiciary, it is my duty to ensure accountability; heads must roll. I will not close these proceedings until there is some accountability. We want to know who the people behind this are," Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said.

The strong remarks came as the court pressed for clarity on how the controversial content was included in the textbook.

Responding on behalf of the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the Ministry had taken serious note of the issue and acted swiftly after the objectionable material surfaced.

“The two people involved with this chapter will never be involved with any activity of this ministry in the future,” he told the court.

The government’s submission signals that internal accountability measures have begun, even as the Supreme Court indicated it would continue to monitor the matter until responsibility is clearly fixed.

NCERT apologises

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on Wednesday had also apologised for what it termed a “purely unintentional” inclusion of “inappropriate material” in a Class 8 Social Science textbook and halted its circulation.

The move follows the court’s strong objections to a chapter that referred to judicial corruption, after which the bench ordered that distribution of the newly released book be stopped.

In a statement, NCERT said certain “inappropriate textual material” had inadvertently appeared in Chapter 4, The Role of Judiciary in our Society, of the textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Vol II.

The council added that following observations from the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Education, the book’s distribution was immediately placed on hold, and copies were withdrawn from circulation.

NCERT said the chapter would now be rewritten in consultation with appropriate authorities and reissued from the 2026–27 academic session.