A.K. Mathur, CJ. - (1.) This is a Public Interest Litigation whereby two questions of historical importance have been raised i.e. what is the date of birth of the City of Calcutta (now renamed as "Kolkata") and whether 'Job Charnayak' was the founder of this city.
(2.) Since both these two questions raise a serious question of the history and the Court felt that it would not be proper for this Court to undertake this exercise, therefore, this Court by an order dated 12th April, 2002 appointed an expert committee to go into these quetstions. The order dated 12th April, 2002 reads as follows: "The Court: By an order dated 5th April, 2002, a committee of the following persons was constituted to go into the question whether Job Charnayak was a founder of Calcutta or not, what is the date of birth of Calcutta and who was the founder:- 1. Prof. Nemai Sadhan Bose, 2. Prof. Barun De, 3. Prof. Pradip Sinha, 4. Prof. Arun Kumar Dasgupta, 5. Prof. Sushil Chowdhury. All the five professors were contacted by the Registrar General and they have kindly consented to be the member of the Committee. Let this committee be formed and give their findings on the following two questions:- 1. What is the date of birth of Calcutta- whether it is 24th August, 1690 or some other date" 2. Whether Job Charnayak was the founder of Calcutta or not" Let this committee give their findings within six months. The petitioner shall bear the incidental expenses of this committee like transport and other connected matters. The venue and place of the meeting of the committee is left on the choice of the members of the committee. Let the copies of these order sheets be sent to the five members of the committee by the Registrar General, Appellate Side and the parties may also send the signed copy of the minutes of this order to the five professors of the committee. Put up the matter after six months from date. All parties including the Registrar General to act on a xerox signed copy of this Dictated Order upon usual undertaking."
(3.) The Committee was constituted by the eminent historians namely, 1. Prof. Nemai Sadhan Bose, Former Vice-Chancellor, Viswa Bharati, Santiniketan. 2. Prof. Barun De, Former Director, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata. 3. Prof. Arun Kumar Dasgupta, Formerly Professor of History, University of Calcutta. 4. Prof. Sushil Chaudhury, Former Professor of Islamic History & Culture, Calcutta University. 5. Prof. Pradip Sinha, Formerly Professor of History, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata.;