The Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha (RAJUK) has informed the High Court that some 26,777 out of total 30,000 documents which were disappeared from its server have been recovered.
The RAJUK informed the matter to the higher court on Tuesday (May 2). Imam Hasan, a lawyer who stood for RAJUK, presented the information to the HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Justice Mohammad Showkat Ali Chowdhury.
Imam Hasan said that the documents were hacked from the server of RAJUK by cybercriminals. The deleted files have been recovered by the consulting firm Technohaven Company Limited. Following the update, the High Court directed the three-member inquiry committee of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to submit a report within 60 days of receiving the order and fixed July 9 for next order.
Advocate Md. Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the ACC while Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the state.
Earlier, the ACC formed the three-member committee to investigate the incident of documents of around 30,000 clients from the server of the RAJUK.
The probe body was formed under the leadership of ACC Director Md. Rajib Hasan. ACC Deputy Director Suvas Chandra Dutta and Assistant Director Md. Ashikur Rahman are two other members of the investigation committee.
Earlier on January 2, the High Court asked the chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha to explain to the court within 30 days over the missing of about 30,000 applications seeking approval for building construction.
The applications filed with the RAJUK seeking approval for building plans from May 2019 to December 6 in 2022 were missing from the National Data Centre.
The higher court issued the directive on suo motu after taking into cognizance a report published by a national daily on December 29 in 2022 under the headline ‘Documents of 30,000 clients go missing from RAJUK website’.
According to the media report, the RAJUK authorities came to know about the incident of missing of 30,000 documents from server on December 6. RAJUK officials said that people may face various hassles due to loss of these important documents.
Many said that corruption may be behind the loss of these documents. For example, many people want to take bank loans keeping buildings as mortgage. The 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.
Many clients would be able to temper the design approved by the city building authorities. The RAJUK authorities would not be able to do much to prevent such wrongdoings since they have the design to challenge any forged documents. The the RAJUK authorities would also not be able to do anything if anyone constructs buildings beyond approved height.
RAJUK sources said that a vested quarter might make the website dysfunctional intentionally.
