A critique of the judiciary & a disproportionate response

It is not often that middle-school civics sparks judicial controversy.

- Insiyah Vahanvaty Ashish Bharadwaj

The recent banning of a civics textbook by the Supreme Court, however, has snowballed from a school lesson into a question of judicial authority and institutional temperament.The facts are, by now, well known. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of a chapter in a class VIII NCERT textbook titled “The Role of the Judiciary in Our Society”. The chapter presents the judiciary as a pillar of democracy, situates it constitutionally and outlines its role as protector of citizens’ rights. At the same time, it acknowledges widely recognised challenges — pendency of cases, shortage of judges, and possibility of corruption within the system. It is this reference to institutional challenges that drew the Supreme Court's ire.