Kataka: The Orissa High Court has directed the state government to file an affidavit within one week in response to a petition alleging negligence in providing error-free textbooks to students from Classes I to VIII in the state.
The High Court, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL), sought the state government’s response and fixed November 9 for the next hearing.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Chittaranjan Dash issued the direction while hearing the PIL filed by human rights activist and advocate Prabir Kumar Das.
The petitioner contended that providing error-free textbooks to children aged between six and 14 is an essential obligation under Article 21A of the Constitution and the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009. He argued that students have a fundamental right to receive accurate textbooks as part of their free and compulsory education.
It was claimed that 55 textbooks published by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) for Classes I to VIII for the 2026-27 academic session contained as many as 1,678 major errors.
As the issue triggered a major controversy, the Chief Minister had ordered the formation of a high-level committee under the chairmanship of the Development Commissioner on June 17. The state government subsequently suspended four senior officials, including former SCERT Director Manoj Kumar Padhy.
The Crime Branch had also taken up the investigation into the textbook errors and arrested the former SCERT director in connection with the case.
The petitioner further claimed that the publication and distribution of defective textbooks had caused an estimated loss of around Rs 175 crore to the state exchequer.
Seeking judicial intervention, the petitioner urged the High Court to direct the state government to ensure that students receive error-free textbooks within a specified timeframe.
He also sought implementation of the recommendations made by the high-level committee headed by the Development Commissioner to prevent similar lapses in the future.