New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday (May 22) recalled its earlier order wherein it had directed Union and state governments to disassociate three academics from all publicly funded curriculum work over a chapter on corruption in judiciary in an NCERT textbook, reported LiveLaw.The three academics – professor Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar, and Alok Prasanna Kumar – had supervised the drafting of Chapter IV of the NCERT Class 8 textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond, which contained a section on corruption in the judiciary.The Supreme Court had banned the book in February in a suo motu case. The March 11 direction was issued without hearing the three experts.“Owing to the explanation given by the applicants, we deem it appropriate to modify para 8 of the order and recall the direction given to the Government of India/State/UT/Institutions to disassociate the 3 applicants from the academic activities. We leave it to Union/State/other authorities to take an independent decision without being influenced by the observations made in our above-stated order,” said a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi in its order on Friday.The court passed the order after considering the applications filed by the three academics seeking recall of the March 11 order. The top court also expunged the adverse observation made in its previous order that the three academics “deliberately and knowingly have misrepresented the facts in order to project a negative image of the Indian Judiciary to students of Class 8.”The court expressed its satisfaction with the explanation offered by the academics that there was no malice in preparing the chapter, and that it was finalised following a collective decision.However, the court reiterated that the chapter was “wholly undesirable.Earlier, appearing for Alok Prasanna Kumar, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayananhad submitted that submitted that the Class 8 chapter on judiciary was a continuation of the chapters in Classes 6 and 7, and said that the Class 8 book also dealt with the issues affecting other areas of administration.Sankaranarayanan told the court that when there is an open discussion in the media about the issues affecting the judiciary, it cannot be suppressed from the students, who should grow with a realistic understanding of the system, with “warts and all,” reported LiveLaw.Clarifying that there was no malicious intent, Sankaranarayanan submitted that solutions will come only if we openly discuss issues in schools and universities and questioned whether the institutions must be “white-washed” before the students.“We have to see if it was balanced. On the other hand, corruption was highlighted as a unique feature. Not a single word about access to legal services. Nothing to say about the role of judges in legal services,” said Justice Bagchi.After the bench agreed to lift the ban on the academics, solicitor general of India Tushar Mehta submitted that the Union Government has decided not to associate these persons in future works.The court’s decision in March to disassociate the three academics from all publicly funded curriculum work had resulted in rights groups expressing concern.The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) had said in a statement that the order also constitutes judicial overreach into the executive’s domain.“NCERT is an autonomous body and its textbooks were developed under the National Curriculum Framework 2023 through structured expert committees. Without examining or reasoning as to illegality, the Court banned the book and assumed the role of pedagogical expert which is a position it is not equipped to occupy,” the CJAR had said.