The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed anger at school textbook body NCERT’s introduction of a chapter on “Corruption in Judiciary” for Class VIII students, calling it a “calculated move” and asserting the “law will take its course”.

“I will not allow anyone on the earth to tarnish the integrity of the institution (of the judiciary) and defame the institution, whosoever it may be. The law will take its course,” Chief Justice Surya Kant said.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training had on Tuesday hastily withdrawn the controversial textbook following a directive from the Centre, government and NCERT sources said.

The contentious chapter dealt with alleged corruption in the judiciary, referred to the official code of conduct for judges, and underlined the massive backlog of court cases in the country.

It explained the parliamentary process for the impeachment of Supreme Court or high court judges for corruption and judicial misconduct.

During the morning “mentioning time” on Wednesday, the matter agitated both bench and Bar. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi drew the chapter to the attention of the bench, which included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi.

Sibal said that members of the Bar were “deeply disturbed” that schoolchildren were being taught about “corruption in judiciary”.

Offering to place copies of the book before the court, Sibal said: “It is entirely scandalous. It is part of the NCERT syllabus.”

Justice Kant said he knew about it and that many other judges too were “perturbed”.

“I can assure all of you that I am fully aware of it. Wait for a day. This concerns the entire judiciary. Many high court judges are perturbed. Every stakeholder is disturbed,” he said.

“I am getting a lot of messages and calls. I have already passed an order,” he added, without elaborating. “I am taking the matter up suo motu.”

Singhvi told the court that the NCERT had been “selective” in the matter, underlining that the textbook made no reference to corruption in the bureaucracy, politics and public life in general.

“As head of the institution, I have done my duty and taken cognisance,” Justice Kant said. “This seems to be a calculated move; I won’t say much.”

Justice Bagchi said the chapter went against the “basic structure” of the Constitution.

No one from the Union government was present in the courtroom to respond.

National school board CBSE and the boards of many states prescribe NCERT textbooks to their students.