PIL 61/2010 BEFORE HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. MADAN B LOKUR HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE UJJAL BHUYAN The prayer of the petitioner in this case is for quashing the office memorandum dated 27/10/2009 issued by the Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of A ssam in the Education Department and for setting aside certain advertisements is sued pursuant thereto. The contention is that the text books and syllabus prescr ibed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) should not be used in the schools in Assam in toto but instead the Central Board of Se condary Education and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) should develop a curriculum and syllabus which is meaningful for the students o f Assam at the elementary level on the basis of the National Curriculum Framewor k, 2005. The writ petition was filed on or about 24/6/2010. The Commissioner and Secretar y to the Government of Assam, Education (Elementary) Department has filed an aff idavit dated 24/3/2011 wherein it is stated that steps have already been taken f or using NCERT text books for the academic session which started in January 2011 . As such it is now a little too late to withdraw these text books or introduce new text books. It is further stated in the affidavit that in so far as elementa ry education is concerned i.e. for Classes 1 to VIII, the office memorandum date d 27/10/2009 would not be acted upon. What this means is that SCERT will develop text books for the students of Assam. During the pendency of the writ petition, the State Government has issue d a notification dated 6/6/2011 under section 29(1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 notifying the SCERT as the State Academi c Authority. The State Academic Authority is obliged to lay down the curriculum and evaluate the syllabus including text books in respect of the students of Cla ss 1 to VIII. Needless to say that while doing so, the State Academic Authority may take the assistance of such persons as it considers fit, including the petit ioners. If text books are not ready for the next academic session beginning from January, 2012 in respect of some subjects, the State Academic Authority is of c ourse entitled to utilize the materials prepared by the NCERT. We make it clear that the affidavit filed by the State Government on 24/3/2011 p ertains only to elementary education and it does not pertain to the secondary le vel. In view of the above, learned counsel are agreed that nothing further su rvives in the matter and it is accordingly disposed of.