The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the petition of blacklisted academicians who wrote the controversial chapter on Judiciary in the Class 8 NCERT book. The court was told that the academician who wrote the chapter had himself been a lawyer and had appeared in the Supreme Court several times. The petitioners say that they have been prejudiced due to the harsh comments made by the court, hence they filed the petition to clarify their stand.
Chief Justice Surya Kant’s bench had taken suo motu cognizance of the chapter written on ‘Judicial Corruption’ in the Class 8 Social Science book. The court had made a strong comment in this matter and said, ‘Either the three education experts do not have complete knowledge about the Indian Judiciary or they deliberately misrepresented the facts so that a wrong image of the Indian Judiciary can be presented in front of the children of class 8.’
Taking a tough stance on education experts Michael Dalino, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar, who wrote the chapter, the court had directed them not to work in any education board. On Monday (April 6, 2026), the lawyers of the three academicians presented their petitions before the bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
According to Live Law report, CJI Surya Kant asked him, ‘Are you defending what you have done?’ Senior advocate Arvind Datar appeared for Michael Dalino, senior advocate J Sai Deepak appeared for Suparna Diwakar and senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan appeared for Alok Prasanna. Gopal Sankaranarayanan said in the court, ‘Giving context, we are presenting before you the new teaching method implemented under the National Education Policy, which also includes other issues. The textbooks of classes 6 and 7 explain the issues faced by the legislature, the executive and the Election Commission.
He said that in this case it was said that only the judiciary was targeted. Those issues affecting other institutions have also been heard. He told the bench, ‘We want to show you the process. We want to tell you the complete process. These are not people who become famous overnight, they are highly learned people and have great credibility. Alok Prasanna himself has been a lawyer and has appeared in this court several times.
Advocate J Sai Deepak said that the essence was that it was a collective process, in which no one person was entitled to take the decision alone. After hearing their arguments, the court agreed to the hearing and directed to list the case.
During the hearing, the central government also told the court that a committee comprising former Supreme Court judge Justice Indu Malhotra, senior advocate KK Venugopal and Garhwal University Vice Chancellor Prakash Singh has been formed to review the new chapter written on the judiciary. This committee will work together with the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal as per the order of the court.
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