By Parmod Kumar
New Delhi, Feb 28 (UNI) In the midst of the Supreme Court’s ongoing suo motu proceedings over references to “corruption in the judiciary” in a newly released NCERT textbook, a former NCERT insider has now approached the Court challenging a passage in another Class 8 book referring to a Supreme Court ruling that allegedly projects slum dwellers as encroachers of public land.
The fresh petition has been filed by a former Senior Associate Fellow of NCERT, questioning a paragraph in the textbook Social and Political Life – III, prescribed nationwide from 2007 till 2026.
The plea flags a sentence stating that “recent judgments tend to view the slum dweller as an encroacher in the city.” According to the petitioner, this portrayal presents eviction rulings of the Court in a selective manner and risks branding slum dwellers simply as “encroachers” without explaining the broader constitutional framework within which such decisions are made.
The petition argues that constitutional courts are often required to balance competing rights, statutory mandates and public interest considerations. By not placing eviction jurisprudence in this context, the textbook allegedly creates a one-sided impression for young students and may weaken public confidence in the judiciary.
The petitioner has stated that he was earlier involved in NCERT’s textbook development process and had co-authored and translated educational material. He says he has approached the Court not in an adversarial role but as a “participant-witness” to assist in safeguarding constitutional values in school curricula. The plea contends that the continued circulation of the book since 2007 warrants judicial scrutiny.
The development comes against the backdrop of the Court’s February 26 order in a suo motu case concerning a different Class 8 Social Science textbook, Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Vol. 2), which contained a chapter referring to “corruption in the judiciary.” In that matter, a Bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant issued a contempt notice to the NCERT Director and the Department of School Education and directed withdrawal of the book from circulation.
The new petition is expected to be taken up along with the ongoing suo motu proceedings.
