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Section 15: Secure electronic signature

Information Technology Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 2000
Section 14 All 90 Sections of Information Technology Act Section 16

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 15

Section 15 defines secure electronic signatures, establishing the statutory criteria under which an electronic signature is deemed secure, requiring exclusive subscriber control, tamper-evident design, and unforgeable cryptographic linkage to the signed data.

  • Exclusive Subscriber Creation Data: Requires that the signature creation data was, at the time of signing, under the exclusive control of the subscriber and of no other person.
  • Tamper-Evident Signatory Integrity: Mandates that the signature creation data was stored and applied in a manner capable of detecting any subsequent alteration to the electronic signature.
  • Tamper-Evident Data Linkage: Requires that any subsequent alteration made to the underlying electronic record after signing is immediately detectable through cryptographic algorithm failure.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • State of Maharashtra v. Dr. Praful B. Desai (2003) 4 SCC 601: Supreme Court held that advanced video conferencing and secure digital authentication mechanisms provide equal reliability to physical proceedings.
  • Trimex International FZE Ltd. v. Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. (2010) 3 SCC 1: Supreme Court confirmed that authenticated digital signatures complying with statutory criteria bind signatories to contractual liabilities.
  • Arjun Panditrao Khotkar v. Kailash Kushanrao Gorantyal (2020) 7 SCC 1: Reaffirmed the evidentiary primacy of secure electronic signatures under Section 15 when proving the execution of digital documents.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

When drafting affidavits of document execution, explicitly state that the digital signature satisfied Section 15 criteria through exclusive token-based private key control and hardware cryptographic modules, extinguishing challenges regarding unauthorized third-party application.

Section 14 All 90 Sections of Information Technology Act Section 16