NEW DELHI: Taking strong exception to a chapter on “judicial corruption” in an NCERT Class VIII textbook, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Wednesday asserted that nobody on earth will be allowed to defame the judiciary and taint its integrity.
“I will not allow anyone to defame the institution. I know how to deal with it… It seems to be a calculated move,” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said after senior counsel Kapil Sibal mentioned the issue, requesting him to take cognisance of the matter.
Flanked by senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Mukul Rohatgi and others, Sibal raised the issue before a Bench of CJI Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi as soon as the Bench assembled to initiate the day’s proceedings.
“We are deeply disturbed as members of this institution to find that Class VIII students are being taught about ‘corruption in the judiciary’. It is part of the NCERT. We have great stake in the institution; it is entirely scandalous. We have copies of the book,” Sibal submitted before the Bench.
“I can assure all of you. I am fully aware of it,” the CJI told the senior lawyers.
As Sibal urged the Bench to take suo motu cognisance of the matter, the CJI said, “Wait for a day. This is definitely concerning the entire institution. The Bar and the Bench are perturbed. Every stakeholder in the system is really perturbed; I am receiving lots of calls and messages. There are judges of high courts who are perturbed. Since you have mentioned, I am informing you, I have already passed an order and am taking the matter suo motu.”
“I will not allow anyone on earth to taint the integrity of the institution and defame it… Whosoever high it may be, the law will take its course. I know how to deal with it,” the CJI said.
“It seems to be a calculated and deep-rooted measure to…we don’t want to say anything more…I am aware and I have done my duty,” the CJI said as he thanked Sibal and Singhvi for bringing the issue to his notice.
Singhvi said the judiciary was selectively targeted and that there was not a word about “corruption” in the bureaucracy, politics, public life and other institutions.
Justice Bagchi pointed out that “constitutional integrity to the basic structure is missing in the structure of the book”.
The newly released social science textbook for Class VIII published by the NCERT has introduced a section on “corruption in the judiciary” and also mentions pending cases in the chapter titled “The Role of the Judiciary in Our Society”.
Part II of the NCERT social science textbook for Class VIII was released on February 23 after a huge delay. The section on “corruption in the judiciary” stated that judges are bound by a code of conduct that governs not only their behaviour in court but also their conduct outside it.
The chapter highlights the judiciary’s internal accountability mechanisms and refers to the established procedure for receiving complaints through the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System. According to the book, over 1,600 complaints were received through this mechanism between 2017 and 2021.
It quoted former CJI BR Gavai who, in July 2025, said, “However, the path to rebuilding this trust lies in the swift, decisive and transparent action taken to address and resolve these issues…Transparency and accountability are democratic virtues.”
The chapter on judiciary also listed the approximate number of pending cases in the Supreme Court (81,000), high courts (62,40,000), and district and subordinate courts (4,70,00,000).
“While the number of pending cases shows a part of the problem, the real issue is the long time that it takes to resolve a case. In the high courts, for example, nearly three-fourths of the pending cases have been unresolved for over a year, and half of them have been pending for more than three years. Some cases have remained unresolved for more than 50 years,” the chapter reads.