Legal Provisions on Digital Documentation & Digital Signatures
For electronic signatures to be considered reliable they must satisfy the following conditions (together, the Conditions): 1. electronic signatures must be unique to the signatory (i.e. it must be uniquely linked to the person signing the document and to no other person); 2. at the time of signing, the signatory must have control over the data used to generate the electronic signature (for example, by directly affixing the electronic signature to the document); 3. any alteration to the affixed Electronic Signature, or to the document to which the signature is affixed, must be detectable (for example, by encryption of the document with a tamper-evident seal); 4. there should be an audit trail of steps taken during the signing process; and 5. signer certificates must be issued by a CA recognized by the CCA. Therefore, while executing the digital documents the above laws should be kept in mind so that the enforceability of the documents is not challenged before the court.
Legal
Provisions on Digital Documentation & Digital Signatures
As we are living in the digital era and
the law is also changing its facets towards adopting these technological
advancements. As the digital transactions are growing the need for digital
documentation as well as the legal authentication of these digital documentations
is also growing. Therefore, in order to cater these needs the IT Act and
Evidence Act were already amended. We often get questions about the legal
validity of electronic signatures/ e-signatures and different modes of
electronic signing. Now a days Digital Documentation is in Vouge and
consequently electronic contracts/ e-contracts under Indian law. Under this article
we discuss about (i) Recognized forms of
electronic signatures under Indian law and (ii) Validity
of electronic records and electronic signatures.
In order to discuss the
validity of the electronic signatures and digital documentation, we would like
to mention most recent case of Arjun Panditrao Khotkar Vs Kailash
Kishanrao Goratyal decided on July 14, 20220 has now clarified the
interpretation of Section 65 B of Indian Evidence Act. Confusion arose on the
scope and ambit of Section 65 B as inconsistent views had been taken in three
earlier decisions of Supreme Court namely – (i) Anvar PV Vs Basheer (ii) Shahfi
Mohammad Vs State of Himanchal Pradesh and (iii) Tamso Bruno Vs State of Uttar
Pardesh whereby the Supreme Court examined the validity of electronic
evidence and electronic record and held that Section 65 (B) itself is a
complete code and thus any document can be proved by following the procedure
prescribed under Section 65 (B) of Indian Evidence Act. Validity of electronic
agreements is further enforced through Section 10A of the Information
Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) and Section 85A of the Indian Evidence Act,
1872. The IT Act does not mandate the need for a physical copy of the
agreement to be executed unless such a term is a mandatory provision of the
agreement for it to attain validity. However, there are certain caveats on the
validity of transactions and documents regarding subject matters under the
First Schedule of the IT Act. Before going further on the
matter we think it appropriate to elaborate few legal points on this aspect so
that the it can be better understood -
(A) Recognized
forms of electronic signatures under Indian law
The
Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) governs the use of electronic
signatures in India. The IT Act recognizes two types of e-signatures to
authenticate electronic records/ documents: (a) digital signatures using
asymmetric crypto systems and hash function, and (b) electronic
signatures or electronic authentication techniques specified in the Second
Schedule of the IT Act (Second Schedule). These Two type of Signatures
can be further understood as follows –
- Digital
Signature
Digital
signatures are technically any signature that use an asymmetric crypto system
and hash function. Digital Signatures are considered a subset of electronic
signatures. These are commonly available in the form of a physical token (USB)
which you have to use to sign a document. This involves submitting yo of u a
form (like the one available here)
along with ID proofs and undergoing a video verification. Post this the USB
token is issued to you.
- Electronic
Signatures:
Electronic
signatures include any electronic authentication techniques or procedures
specified in the Second Schedule. At present, the Second Schedule specifies the
following:
1. Biometric and One-Time-Password (OTP) based Aadhaar e-KYC (Know Your
Customer). An example of this is also known as Aadhaar e-Sign (eSign);
2. other e-KYC services apart from online Aadhaar e-KYC. These include
Offline Aadhaar e-KYC, Organizational eKYC or Banking eKYC. You can find the Identity Verification Guidelines issued by Controller
of Certifying Authority (CCA) for details
regarding the various forms of identity verification used forms of user
identification for generation of digital signature certificates; and
3. e-authentication technique and procedure for creating and accessing
subscriber's signature key facilitated by trusted third parties, as electronic authentication techniques and procedures. A trusted
third party will be a certifying authority (CA) licensed under the IT
Act.
The
above methods are used to issue digital signature certificates (DSC) on
successful verification of the identity and addresses credentials of the
applicant. It is pertinent to note that - the DSC is issued by a CA licensed
under the IT Act. A CA is an entity licensed by the CCA to issue electronic/
digital signature certificates. The CCA is the authority appointed under the IT
Act to license and regulate the CAs.
(B) Validity
of electronic records and electronic signatures
Section
4 and section 5 of the IT Act provides for legal recognition of electronic
records and electronic signatures respectively. As per these sections, any
requirement of physical records would be deemed satisfied if such records are
made available and accessible electronically and any requirement of signature
would be deemed satisfied if the document is authenticated by means of an
electronic signature (as mentioned above) affixed in such manner as prescribed
under the IT Act.
To summarize, there is no difference between the enforceability/ admissibility
of Digital Signatures and other types of valid Electronic Signatures - both
have the same status as handwritten signatures under Indian law. There is a presumption
of validity for electronic records signed using a valid electronic
signature (as recognized under the IT Act), which is treated as equivalent to a
wet signature.
Please note that the criteria for electronic signature to be valid is twofold -
(i) it should be considered reliable; and (ii) recognized under the Second
Schedule.
For electronic signatures to be considered reliable they must satisfy the
following conditions (together, the Conditions):
1. electronic signatures must be unique to the signatory (i.e. it must be
uniquely linked to the person signing the document and to no other person);
2. at the time of signing, the signatory must have control over the data
used to generate the electronic signature (for example, by directly affixing
the electronic signature to the document);
3. any alteration to the affixed Electronic Signature, or to the document
to which the signature is affixed, must be detectable (for example, by
encryption of the document with a tamper-evident seal);
4. there should be an audit trail of steps taken during the signing process;
and
5. signer certificates must be issued by a CA recognized by the CCA.
Therefore, while
executing the digital documents the above laws should be kept in mind so that
the enforceability of the documents is not challenged before the court.
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