The Supreme Court on Friday recalled its order barring three academics from all government projects for drafting a chapter about “corruption in the judiciary” in a now-withdrawn textbook, Live Law reported.A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi modified the “harsh” observations made in the March 11 order, The Hindu reported.The bench said that while it stands by its position “that the curriculum contained in the Class 8 National Council of Educational Research and Training textbook was wholly undesirable and unnecessary”, it was withdrawing its directions after receiving an explanation from the three academics, Bar and Bench reported.The chapter in question was part of a Class 8 social science textbook published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training. The chapter had listed “corruption at various levels of the judiciary” among the challenges that the judicial system faces. It was part of a textbook titled “Exploring Society: India and Beyond”.The educational body on March 10 apologised for the chapter, and said that the entire book had been withdrawn. The apology came two weeks after the court took suo motu cognisance of the matter and banned the publication and re-printing of the textbook.On Friday, the court expressed satisfaction that there was no malice on part of Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar in preparing the chapter, Live Law reported.It clarified that the Union government and the states are allowed to take independent decisions on associating with the three academics for future projects.During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the Union government had decided not to associate with the persons in future works, Live Law reported.The court was hearing a plea moved by the three academics who explained that no individual had a sole say in the matter and that it was a collective process, The Hindu reported.On March 11, the court had held that the three academics either did not have “reasonable knowledge about the Indian judiciary” or that they knowingly misrepresented facts “in order to project a negative image of the Indian judiciary”.On Friday, the court expunged the observations, Live Law reported.Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.