NCERT book row: IIT-Gandhinagar to review Michel Danino's guest professor role after Supreme Court directive

New Delhi: A standing committee at IIT-Gandhinagar will review Michel Danino's role as guest professor after the Supreme Court directed governments and public institutions to dissociate from him following a controversy about a chapter on judicial corruption in a now-withdrawn NCERT textbook, officials said.

Danino, a Padma awardee, was the chairperson of the curricular area group that develops social science textbooks for NCERT. Two others who were part of the drafting committee -- Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar -- have also come under fire, besides Danino.

There was no response from Danino, Diwakar and Kumar to calls and text messages.

Acting tough against the three experts involved in drafting the controversial chapter in NCERT's class 8 social science book that contained "offending" contents on corruption in the judiciary, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre and all state governments to disassociate from the three experts.

"A standing committee will look into Danino's appointment in view of the Supreme Court's directions, and a decision will be taken after that," a senior official privy to the development told PTI.

Danino's association with IIT-Gandhinagar dates back to 2011, when he started as a guest professor at the institute.

A French-born Indian citizen, Danino was awarded Padma Shri in 2017 for his contribution towards literature and education. He was also a member of the Centre's committee for drafting a new curriculum as per the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Wednesday said, "At the outset, we have no reason to doubt that professor Michel Danion and his associates Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar either do not have reasonable informed knowledge with respect to Indian judiciary or they deliberately and knowingly misrepresented the facts in order to project a negative image of Indian judiciary before the students of Class 8." The top court said it sees no reason why these persons should be associated in any manner for the purpose of preparing the curriculum or for the finalisation of textbooks for the next generation of children.

While Alok Prasanna Kumar is the co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Suparna Diwakar is a renowned educator and currently a board member at the School of Inspired Leadership.