30,000 documents missing: HC seeks Rajuk explanation

The High Court (HC) on Monday issued a rule seeking explanation Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (Rajuk) over the disappearance of documents of about 30,000 clients from its server.

The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat issued the suo moto rule after taking reports published in a national daily into cognisance.

Rajuk chairman has been asked to submit an explanation in this regard within 30 days. Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan drew attention of the court in this regard.

The court also fixed February 5 for hearing on the issue, said Khurshid Alam.

On December 29 last year, a national daily published a report stating that around 30,000 clients' documents regarding the approval of buildings construction have been lost from the server of Rajuk and Rajuk came to known the mater on December 6, said the report.

Kazi Mohammad Mahabubul Haque, head of Rajuk's Management Information System (MIS) unit, said they are trying to recover all the lost documents. They lodged a GD (General Diary) in this regard.

However, no probe committee was formed by the authorities in last three weeks, said the report. Clients who applied for construction approval from May 2019 to December 6 may suffer in various ways due to the loss of the documents, it added.

Loss of these documents may also spawn corruption. For example, many people want to take bank loans keeping buildings as mortgage. Bank authorities in such case send letter to Rajuk for verification. With the loss of the documents, such clients would face trouble getting bank loans as Rajuk would not be able to verify the documents.

Also, clients would be able to temper the design approved by the Rajuk. The Rajuk authorities would not be able to do much to prevent such wrongdoings since they have the design to challenge any forged documents, it added.