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NCERT ‘offending’ chapter row: Meet high-powered panel tasked with redrafting Class 8 textbook on judiciary

The committee shall comprise former Supreme Court Justices Indu Malhotra and Aniruddha Bose, former Attorney General KK Venugopal and one vice chancellor.

Supreme Court NCERTThe expert committee members to review the NCERT chapter will also include one vice chancellor.
Written by: Ashish Shaji
4 min readNew DelhiMar 20, 2026 04:48 PM IST First published on: Mar 20, 2026 at 03:17 PM IST

Supreme Court NCERT book news: The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that it has constituted an expert committee to review the “offending chapter” on judicial corruption in the Class 8 NCERT textbook. The committee shall comprise former Supreme Court Justices Indu Malhotra and Aniruddha Bose, former Attorney General KK Venugopal and one vice chancellor.

The Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant was informed by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta about the decision earlier today.

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Justice (retired) Indu Malhotra

Justice Indu Malhotra is a former judge of the Supreme Court. She was enrolled as an Advocate on January 12, 1983 with the Bar Council of Delhi. Justice Malhotra qualified as an Advocate-on-Record in 1988 and was awarded the Mukesh Goswami Memorial Prize for having topped the examination.

She was the second woman to be designated as a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court in 2007 after 30 years. She was appointed as a member of the High Level Committee constituted by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India, in 2017 to review the working of Arbitration institutions in India, and to make recommendations for the institutionalisation of arbitration, and suggest legislative amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1966.

Justice (retired) Aniruddha Bose

Justice Aniruddha Bose was born on April 11, 1959. He completed his higher secondary education at St. Lawrence High School, Kolkata, and went on to graduate in the commerce stream from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. He obtained his LL.B. degree from Surendranath Law College and, after enrolling as an advocate, began his legal practice in 1985 at the Calcutta High Court, focusing on constitutional, civil, and intellectual property matters.

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During his practice, he worked on both the Original Side as well as the Appellate Side of the High Court. He was elevated as a permanent judge of the Calcutta High Court in January 2004, and later appointed as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court on August 11, 2018.

Subsequently, he was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India on May 24, 2019, and served in that capacity until his retirement on April 10, 2024.

Senior advocate K K Venugopal

Senior advocate and former Attorney General KK Venugopal is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court who served as the 15th Attorney General of India (2017–2022). He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India in the year 2002 and the Padma Vibhushan in the year 2015.

He has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate, one by the Utkal University, Orissa, in 2010, another by the Chanakya National Law University, Patna, in the year 2018 and by the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, in the year 2019. He has also held the offices of the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association in the years 1990-91, 1994-95 and 1999-2000.

He has been the President of SAARCLAW (The International Association of Lawyers of the SAARC Countries) in the year 1995-97, and the President of the Union International des Avocats (UIA) in 1996-97, the UIA, being the oldest among International Association of Lawyers, with Headquarters at Paris.

He has received the Grand Cross award and medal from the Bar Association of Bogota, Columbia, as well as a medal and citation from the Bar Association of Buenos Aires and Matanza, Argentina, in recognition of his achievements in Human Rights. He is an Honorary Member of the American Bar Association.

 

Expert Committee Formed to Review NCERT Textbook Chapter

4-Member Panel
Centre constitutes expert committee to review judicial corruption chapter
Subject Under Review
"Offending chapter" on judicial corruption in Class 8 NCERT textbook
Expert Committee Members
Justice (Retd) Indu Malhotra
Former Supreme Court Judge
2nd woman designated Senior Advocate by SC (2007), enrolled 1983
Justice (Retd) Aniruddha Bose
Former Supreme Court Judge
SC Judge (2019-2024), former Chief Justice of Jharkhand HC
KK Venugopal
Former Attorney General of India
15th AG (2017-2022), Padma Vibhushan (2015), Padma Bhushan (2002)
One Vice Chancellor
Academic Expert
Name to be announced
Context
Informed By
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta
Supreme Court Bench
Led by CJI Surya Kant
Express InfoGenIE
 

Ashish Shaji is a Senior Sub-Editor at The Indian Express, wh... Read More

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