People Have the Right to Criticise Court Judgements: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking removal of remarks from an NCERT Class 8 book, remarking that criticism of judicial decisions is valid and the judiciary should not be sensitive to it
March 21, 2026 - The Supreme Court of India on Friday (March 20) disposed of a petition that sought the removal from an National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Class 8 textbook of certain remarks made against Court judgments. The Court remarked orally that expressing dissenting opinions about a judgment is not wrong and noted that orders had already been passed in a suo moto case earlier on NCERT textbook matter.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was hearing the plea.
The petition objected to a statement in an older Class 8 Social Science textbook which said that “recent judgments tend to view slum dwellers as encroachers in cities.”
The CJI said that this reflects a particular viewpoint and constitutes healthy criticism adding, “Why the judiciary should be so oversensitive about that?” He added that the textbook aims to explain how the judiciary is structured and functions and that people have the right to critique judicial decisions.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer expressed concern that such content could influence the opinions of slum dwellers about the judiciary. In response, the CJI said that public opinions on Court judgments can be right or wrong.
The Court dismissed the petition saying that it no longer held relevance since the textbook was only used in the 2015-16 academic session.
Meanwhile, in the recent case of the mention of “corruption in the judiciary” in an NCERT book, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta informed the Supreme Court that an expert committee has been formed to review the chapter in question in Class 8 Social Science textbooks. The committee includes former Attorney General for India and senior advocate KK Venugopal, former Supreme Court judge Indu Malhotra and National Judicial Academy Director and former Supreme Court judge Aniruddha Bose, among other experts. The panel will review the content and prepare a revised draft.
Source: Media Reports
#SupremeCourt #NCERT #Judiciary #IndiaNews #CourtRuling #EducationNews #LegalUpdate #IndianLaw #TextbookControversy #FreedomOfExpression #RajasthanNews #UdaipurNews
To join us on Facebook Click Here and Subscribe to UdaipurTimes Broadcast channels on GoogleNews | Telegram | Signal