The Supreme Court on Friday said it was open to “healthy criticism” and that “people have a right to criticise our judgments”, dismissing a contempt plea against the authors of a decade-old and deleted chapter in an NCERT school textbook. ADVERTISEMENTPetitioner Pankaj Pushkar, a former NCERT member, had assailed as contemptuous a chapter, titled “Recent judgments tend to view the slum dwellers as encroachers in the city”, in an old Class VIII textbook printed in 2015-16. Why should we be so sensitive about it?” Justice Kant said. Textbook panelThe Centre informed the apex court that a four-member panel had been formed to rewrite the chapter on the judiciary in the current Class VIII textbook. Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, representing the NCERT, said the panel included two former Supreme Court judges — Justices Indu Malhotra and Aniruddha Bose — former attorney-general K.K.

Source: The Telegraph March 21, 2026 06:53 UTC