Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on May 16 accepted the expert committee report rejecting the notion that Kolkata was founded by Job Charnock and directed the concerned authorities to make changes in history books and other documents accordingly.

A division bench comprising chief justice A K Mathur and justice J K Biswas accepted the report by the five-member committee headed by eminent historian Nemai Sadhan Bose and directed the West Bengal government and others to take necessary steps in this regard.

The order came after advocate general Balai Roy informed the court about acceptance of the contents of the expert committee report by the West Bengal government.

The report, submitted before the court in November last year, contended that Kolkata grew into a city over a period of time and no particular date could be fixed as its date of birth or no one person can be said to be its founder.

The judgement came on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family, challenging the till date accepted notion that August 24, 1690 AD was the date of birth of Kolkata and Job Charnock was its founder.

PTI