New Delhi, April 8 -- Professor Michel Danino, educator Suparna Diwakar and legal researcher Alok Prasanna Kumar defended their role over the now-withdrawn Class 8 social science chapter on judiciary. In an affidavit to the Supreme Court, Danino said the chapter was the result of a "collective and collaborative" process with no individual authorship, and that there was no intent to malign the institution, and contested claims made by NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani. The three filed separate affidavits on Saturday ahead of Monday's hearing and said the chapter was the outcome of an exercise by a 51-member Textbook Development Team (TDT), with 15 active contributors, and not the work of three individuals as suggested in Saklani's March 11 submission. Danino also disputed the claim that drafts were shared "only amongst a few members digitally", stating they were circulated through a Google group of over 40 members. He termed it "factually erroneous" to name Diwakar as a drafter, with her affidavit clarifying that her role as chief consultant in the programme office of the National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) was limited to coordination and facilitation, with no authorial or evaluative responsibility. In its March 11 order, the top court directed the Centre, states and publicly funded institutions to disassociate the three from curriculum development and textbook preparation, observing that the three either "do not have any reasonable knowledge about the Indian judiciary" or had "deliberately and knowingly misrepresented the facts". It, however, allowed them to seek modification, following which they approached the court. Defending the chapter, Danino said there was "no intention whatsoever to malign the judiciary" and that the content aligned with the National Education Policy 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework-School Education 2023. He said the textbook followed a uniform pedagogical approach across the executive, legislature and judiciary, discussing both their roles and challenges....