NEW DELHI: NCERT on Tuesday issued an “unconditional and unqualified apology” and withdrew its recently published Class VIII social science textbook after Supreme Court objected to a chapter discussing corruption and other challenges within the judiciary.In a statement, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) said the book – “Exploring Society: India and Beyond” Grade 8 (Part 2) – contained Chapter 4 titled “The Role of Judiciary in our Society”. “The director and members of NCERT hereby tender an unconditional and unqualified apology for Chapter 4. The entire book has been withdrawn and is not available,” the statement said.

The chapter had described corruption, massive case backlog and shortage of judges as challenges faced by the judicial system, and cited pending cases across courts as examples.The issue reached SC after senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi mentioned the matter for urgent consideration. A three-judge bench headed by CJI Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, took suo motu cognisance of what it termed “objectionable” content in the textbook.During the hearing, the Chief Justice of India strongly objected to the references to corruption in the judiciary, saying no one would be allowed to defame the institution or undermine its integrity. The court also imposed a “blanket ban” on further publication, reprinting or digital dissemination of the textbook, stating that the book contained “offending” content about the Indian judiciary.Centre also reacted sharply to the controversy. Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed anguish over the inclusion of the chapter and said accountability would be fixed and action taken against those involved in drafting the contents.