CJI says judiciary can not earn public trust by shielding itself from scrutiny
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant stated that the judiciary must remain open to public scrutiny and criticism to maintain institutional trust. This follows the court's recent involvement in a controversy regarding NCERT textbook content that criticized the judiciary.
Why it matters
Addresses the fundamental tension between judicial independence and the democratic necessity of institutional accountability.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Monday (September 14, 2026) invoked the Supreme Court’s intervention in the NCERT Class 8 textbook row, where the court had objected to references to ‘judicial corruption’, to emphasise that “institutions do not stay clean by being shielded from scrutiny.”
The court had initially ordered the textbook to be withdrawn en masse. It had termed the textual depiction of the judiciary as “reckless, irresponsible, motivated, contemptuous” with an intention to instill bias in the “impressionable minds” of young school children. The Bench, which was headed by the CJI, had made stern remarks that “heads must roll”.
Earlier in September, however, the court closed the suo motu proceedings after the chapter was replaced with an updated curriculum. It had further recalled harsher earlier findings against individual academicians.
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