Plea In Supreme Court Challenges Old NCERT Book Remark 'Judgments Tend To View Slumdwellers As Encroachers'

A former member of NCERT, Dr Pankaj Pushkar, has filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court challenging allegedly unconstitutional improper content in NCERT's old Social Science textbook for Class 8. The petition, filed under Articles 32 and 129 of the Constitution, comes in the wake of the controversy surrounding NCERT's recent Class 8 Social Science textbook which contained a chapter with an excerpt on “Corruption in Judiciary”. Displeased with the “contemptuous” nature of this book, the Court recently took up a suo motu case and banned the book's circulation in any form. In this backdrop, Dr Pankaj Pushkar has filed a petition impugning NCERT's textbook titled Social and Political Life – III (2015-2016 edition) prescribed for Class 8 students. The excerpt challenged by the petitioner states, “Recent judgments tend to view the slum dweller as an encroacher in the city.” Reportedly, it is mentioned at pg 62 of the textbook, under the chapter discussing role of the judiciary and right to livelihood. According to the petitioner, the same selectively presents judicial reasoning in a manner “divorced from its constitutional, statutory and factual framework”. “Such portrayal, when introduced into a foundational educational curriculum addressed to impressionable students, carries an inherent tendency to create a distorted perception of the judiciary, portraying constitutional adjudication as regressive or insensitive, without explaining the judicial obligation to balance competing constitutional rights, statutory mandates, and public interest considerations”, the plea states. It highlights the Supreme Court's order in the suo motu case to urge that the Court has already observed that embedding decontextualized text within a nationwide middle school curriculum risks systemic erosion of institutional faith and may fall within the definition of criminal contempt if it scandalizes or undermines judicial authority. The petitioner also mentions that he was himself associated with NCERT pedagogical and textbook development process as Senior Associate Fellow (Pedagogy), thereby possessing direct institutional knowledge of textbook development mechanisms. The reliefs sought are as follows: - Examination of the pedagogical and constitutional propriety of the impugned content in the NCERT textbook; - Directions to the Union and NCERT for production of records on drafting, review, approval and publication of the impugned chapter; - Directions for prompt withdrawal, correction and revisiting of any constitutionally deficient, decontextualized or institutionally improper content capable of undermining the dignity of the judiciary; - Orders in exercise of Article 129 to prevent any act or publication which may scandalize or tend to scandalize or interfere with administration of justice; - Directions to ensure that future pedagogical and curricular material published by the Union is subjected to constitutionally compliant review mechanisms. The petition has been drawn by Advocate Raja Choudhary and filed through AoR Rajesh Singh Chauhan. Case Title: Dr Pankaj Pushkar v. Union of India and Anr., Diary No.13060/2026

Plea In Supreme Court Challenges Old NCERT Book Remark 'Judgments Tend To View Slumdwellers As Encroachers'

Debby Jain

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