Deputy Solicitor General Billwadal Bhattacharya, who was appointed by the Calcutta High Court (HC) to investigate a Kolkata-based school that recently lost its Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) affiliation, has accused the school authorities of offering him a bribe, as stated in a report by IANS.
Bhattacharya, who was appointed by the Calcutta High Court to investigate a case where the parents of a few Class X students of Kolkata-based St Augustine's Day School, accused the school authorities of concealing the fact that they lost the CISCE affiliation thus, leading to uncertainty for 237 students in the secondary and higher secondary sections who had to appear for the 2024 board examination.
Further, Bhattacharya informed the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Biswajit Basu on September 21 about this bribery attempt when he went to the school for investigation. Following this, Justice Basu was irked over the allegations and slammed the school authorities first for playing with the future of the students and then trying to cover up the matter by making a bribing attempt.
Even the counsel representing the school authorities also reacted against the action of his client and withdrew from the case claiming that he could never consciously hold the brief for such corrupt persons.
However, the next hearing on the matter has been scheduled again on October 4. Justice Basu advised all parties concerned to come forward with concrete suggestions so that the students do not lose a year and can appear for the Board examinations, as stated in a report by IANS.