HC orders probe of over 7cr missing birth certificates
Local Government Division secretary and officials concerned have been asked to respond to a High Court rule in this regard
The High Court on Sunday asked the authorities concerned to launch a probe and submit a report within a month about the 7 crore birth certificates missing from the Office of the Registrar General, Birth and Death Registration.
It also asked why, not launching an investigation of the missing certificates and not ordering the creation of a central database in line with the Births and Deaths Registration Act would not be illegal.
The Local Government Division's secretary, its director-general for planning, monitoring, inspection and evolution wing, and other officials concerned, were asked to respond to the rule.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
A High Court bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Khizir Hayat gave the order after hearing a writ petition in this regard.
"The 7 crore birth certificates went missing last year from the Office of the Registrar General and BBC Bangla published a report in this regard. The authorities, however, did not take necessary measures to look into the matter even after being served a legal notice.
So we filed a writ with the High Court," lawyer Tanvir Ahmed, who filed the petition, told the media.
According to the BBC report, officials of the Office of the Registrar General and city corporations of Dhaka said crores of people who already received birth certificates would have to apply for them again (now online) as their previous ones had gone missing.
They said the birth certificates were not updated online.
