It was revealed at the Magistrate’s Court today (13) that the National Drug Regulatory Authority (NMRA) has not assigned any responsibility for the protection of its data particularly to the company that manage its Data and workflow management in accordance with the agreement.
Nalinda Indatissa, PC, who was appearing on behalf of the Company Epic Lanka in the case before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court, said that the authority had never made any reservation or classification regarding the sensitivity of the data.
Mr. Indatissa was responding to a statement made by Deputy Solicitor General Dilipa Peiris who appeared on behalf of the Attorney General in the case on disappearing a data folder outside the main data system of NMRA, said that the company has not taken any steps to protect the database. Mr Peiris went on saying that the disappearance of the missing files could be one of the conspiracies of the drug mafia itself and that it was the company’s responsibility to protect the data.
Responding to that point, Counsel Indatissa, stated that although the company that managed the data had pointed out to the authorities of the National Drug Regulatory Authority and the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) the importance of protecting the data, the company had not assumed such a responsibility to the particular company. He pointed out that the agreement was closely monitored and signed by both government agencies. It was revealed that Epic Lanka has written to the relevant authorities stating that there is a possibility of recovering the deleted data file outside the main database and Magistrate instructed to carry out this task jointly with Epic Lanka and the National Drug Regulatory Authority. The magistrate also lifted the enjoining order restraining access to the database and adjourned the case to December 09
