“Till the next date of listing, the petitioners would make efforts as far as possible, to comply with the order dated 23.08.2017, but the petitioners shall not be coerced into it by the State or its authorities. I say this because whereas we all want the best books at reasonable price for the students, yet no one can be coerced into it. The subsequent orders dated 15.02.2018, 06.03.2018 and 09.03.2018, since prohibit any other books save NCERT books, are prima facie violative of the fundamental rights of the petitioners under Article 19 (1) (a) and 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution of India, and to the extent these orders make this prohibition of books, these orders shall remain stayed. The petitioners, however, can make other books available to the students, but as far as possible, at competitive rates (i.e. in relation to price of NCERT books), as a genuine concern has been raised at the Bar by learned counsel for the State that the books published by the private publishers are unreasonably priced and in many cases, out of reach of students. These books, i.e. other than NCERT books, however, must meet the requirements and guidelines of CBSE curriculum and syllabus prescribed by the CBSE, and NCERT. The schools shall also publish this on their website.”
