The High Court has questioned the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission or BTRC's order to mobile companies to develop a database with customers’ personal information from national identity cards.

The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah issued a rule asking why such a move should not be deemed illegal after hearing a writ petition filed by the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh or HRPB on Wednesday.

Lawyers Md Sarwar Ahad Chowdhury, Aklas Uddin Bhuiyan, Mamun Aleem and Ripon Barai filed the petition on behalf of the HRPB amid concerns over privacy and data breach.

Apart from the cabinet secretary and the prime minister’s principal secretary, the home secretary, the ICT secretary, the post and telecommunications secretary, the director general of the National Identity Registration Wing of the Election Commission, BTRC chairman and the president of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh have been made defendants in the rule.

Advocate Manzill Murshid represented the HRPB while Deputy Attorney General Tushar Kanti Roy stood for the state during the hearing.

Citing a media report published on Feb 6, Murshid said, BTRC ordered mobile operators to develop a database by collecting and preserving clients’ personal information, including their name, address and other details.

Pointing out that mobile operators used to collect information from the database of national ID cards maintained by the EC earlier, he said: “If the BTRC guidelines are reflected, the mobile companies will have to verify the customer information through the database from a private firm named Digicom Technologies which will cost Tk 10 per customer, up from Tk 5 which is being paid currently to the EC.”

In addition to the customers incurring the additional cost, the BTRC order would endanger national security as it will allow private companies to access people’s information, Murshid said.

“Citizens' personal information going under private companies will be a violation of fundamental rights recognised by the constitution,” he said.

BTRC's order is contrary to article 43 of the constitution and infringes section 13 of the National Identity Card Registration Act, 2010, which involve privacy, according to him.