JEDDAH — Applicants for housing loans said they were randomly rejected due to a technical glitch in the eskan website belonging to the Ministry of Housing. A source said the website experienced a technical glitch hindering the process. "Applicants for housing were instructed by the ministry to apply online through the website. The website experienced a technical glitch that caused important information about the applicants missing. The glitch also caused the system to send messages rejecting the applications to random applicants," said the source. Technical expert Taher Al-Blewi said the reason for the glitch could be a lack of routine maintenance or the website could have been hacked. "The glitch is very common and it could be caused by shifting servers from one site to another. Some information could be lost every time the server reboots. Sometimes if a system goes through an update or several databases are shared, the information stored can be misplaced or lost," said Al-Blewi. Information Technology expert Abdulsalam Al-Uwaidan said information could be lost irretrievably. "The applicants who's information was deleted have the right to lodge a complaint as the maintenance of the website is the ministry's responsibility," said Al-Uwaidan. Lawyer Abdulaziz Al-Nugali said applicants have the right to restore their status if the rejection of their application was caused by a technical glitch. "If the applicant can prove that he received an approval from the ministry before the glitch tampered with his records and changed his status, the applicant then has the right to lodge a complaint with the ministry and if it does not respond, he may take legal action against the ministry," said Al-Nugali.
