e-governance,

IT Act, 2000

Submitted to : Submitted by:

Ms. Amita Verma Ankita Gupta
Bcom.LLB(Hons.)
Section C
Semester 10
Roll No.- 126/14

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me immense pleasure in acknowledging the valuable assistance intended to me by

various people in the successful completion of this project. The formal acknowledgement
will hardly be sufficient in expressing my heartfelt gratitude to my Information Technology
teacher, Ms. Amita Verma, without whose support and guidance this project would not have
been accomplished. Also, I want to thank her for providing such a resourceful and
enlightening topic for research work.
I would also like to extend a big thanks to the authorities of UILS and its Director, Mr.
Rattan Singh for providing all facilities like a well equipped library and all other necessary
resources which proved to be very helpful in the preparation of this project.

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 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 4
CONCEPT OF E-GOVERNANCE ......................................................................................... 5
SCOPE OF E-GOVERNANCE ............................................................................................... 7
Government to Citizen .......................................................................................................... 7
Citizen to Government ........................................................................................................ 10
Government to Government ............................................................................................... 10
Government to Business ..................................................................................................... 11
OBJECTIVES OF E-GOVERNANCE .................................................................................. 13
LEGAL POSITION IN INDIA .............................................................................................. 14
NATIONAL E-GOVERNANCE PLAN: THE COMMON FUTURE FOR ALL ................ 22
CHALLENGES FACED AND SOLUTIONS SUGGESTED. ............................................. 23
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 25
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 25

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 INTRODUCTION

Information and Communication Technologies can enhance the transformation of work

culture by serving a variety of ends, better delivery of government services to citizens,
improved government interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through
access to information and participation for decision-making and more efficient government
management. E-Governance is not meant only for introducing or using technological tools, it
fundamentally strives to bring about a change in mindset and work culture to integrate
government processes and functions to serve the citizens better. In this process, it is crucial
that the capacity of government to be open to criticism as well as the application of new
social contract between all stakeholders, confirming a shared responsibility on the
transformation processes.
There are various benefits provided by the technology whether it is at an individual level, or
development of the Country as a whole. It's a tool which makes a platform for the growth
and development of the Country and is therefore important. The use by government agencies
of the information technologies (IT) to improve and transform relations with the citizens,
businesses and other arms of the government for availing services to its citizens, and
providing them an efficient way of complying with the norms/rules/regulations set by the
government, is known as e-governance. This kind of technological use is been introduced for
the welfare of the marginalized sections of the society also, and is therefore an initiative for
helping them join the mainstream of the society. It's only that the information needs to be
spread among all the sections of the society to avail the services of the e-governance.
Government through the use of IT based technology has now become facilitator of its
services to different segments of people at all levels.
The use of IT by the government to facilitate services like filling the forms online, payment
of bills (electricity, water supply etc.), distant education for its citizens, filing the tax returns,
registration of land records and birth and death rates in India, and tele-medicines , and the
services like e-chaupal have lead to an efficient, and easy to use of system for the citizens
irrespective of any disparity among them. Government can provide services and information
electronically to its citizens and business enterprises. Business transactions with the
government can be done by Government to Business Transactions (G2B) where the
information is delivered and transactions are made electronically with the businesses. It even
helps in government to government transactions, or inter-departmental transactions within
the government, and with government employees called, Inter Government Administration,

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(G2G). Through e-governance the transactions would be more efficient, effective and
transparent. E-governance can also help increasing the exports and tourism and raise foreign
trade of the country through G2X Transactions.
The interaction between a citizen and a government agency takes place in a government
office. With emerging Information and Communication technologies it is possible to locate
service centers closed to clients. In all the cases public traditionally look for information and
services addressing his or her needs and in both cases, quality, relevance and efficiency are
of paramount importance. Therefore, the establishment of e-Governance requires a good
knowledge of the needs that exist in the society and that can be offered using ICT. The
effectiveness of ICT in government is closely related with the capacity of government to
induce a culture change-placing network within its institutions as instrumental to
transparency and knowledge exchange and creation.1

CONCEPT OF E-GOVERNANCE

E-governance may be defined as delivery of government services and information to the

public using electronic means. Such means of delivering information is often referred to as
Information Technology or ‘IT’ in short forms. Use of IT in government facilities is an
efficient, speedy and transparent process for disseminating information to the public and
other agencies, and for performing government administration activities.
The word “electronic” in the term e-Governance implies technology driven governance. E-
Governance is the application of Information and Communication Technology for delivering
government services, exchange of information communication transactions, integration of
various stand-alone systems and services between Government-to-Citizens, Government-to-
Business, Government to Government as well as back office processes and interactions
within the entire government frame work. Thus it can be said that e-governance is the use of
a range of modern Information and Communication Technologies such as Internet, Local
Area Networks, mobiles etc. by Government to improve the effectiveness, efficiency,
service delivery and to promote democracy. Through the e-Governance, the government
services will be made available to the citizens in a convenient, efficient and transparent

1
“History & Development of e-Governance”, retrieved from: www.aigetoachtd.org (assessed on 24/02/2018
at 5:00 pm)

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manner. The three main target groups that can be distinguished in governance concepts are
Government, citizens and businesses/interest groups. Generally four basic models are
available-Government to Customer/Citizen, Government to Employees, Government to
Government and Government to Business.

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 SCOPE OF E-GOVERNANCE

Governance is all about flow of information between the Government and Citizens,
Government and Businesses and Government and Government.2 E-Governance also covers
all these relationships as follows:
A. Government to Citizen (G2C)
B. Citizen to Government (C2G)
C. Government to Government (G2G)
D. Government to Business (G2B)

Government to Citizen
Government to Citizen Relationship is the most basic aspect of E-Governance. In modern
times, Government deals with many aspects of the life of a citizen. The relation of a citizen
with the Government starts with the birth and ends with the death of the citizen. A person
transacts with the Government on every corner of his life. May it be birth registration,
marriage registration, divorce or death registration!
The G2C relation will include the services provided by the Government to the Citizens.
These services include the public utility services i.e. Telecommunication, Transportation,
Post, Medical facilities, Electricity, Education and also some of the democratic services
relating to the citizenship such as Certification, Registration, Licensing, Taxation, Passports,
I.D. Cards etc.
Various e-initiatives are e-Sanad for online submission/verification of documents, e-
Upkaran (EMMS), e-Sushrut C-DAC’s Hospital Management Information System, e-
RaktKosh for workflow of blood banks across nation, Government eProcurement System
of NIC (GePNIC), Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS), e-Granthalaya for
Library Management Software for computerization of Government Libraries etc.
Therefore E-Governance in G2C relationship will involve facilitation of the services flowing
from Government towards Citizens with the use of Information and Communications
Technology. Few Examples could be:
1. E-Citizenship - E-Citizenship will include the implementation of Information and
Communications Technology for facilitation of Government Services relating to
citizenship of an individual.

2
“E-Governance in India”, retrieved from: http://indiaegovernance.blogspot.in/2008/03/scope-of-e-
governance.html (assessed on 24/02/2018 at 5:00 pm)

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 It may involve online transactions relating to issue and renewal of documents like
Ration Cards, Passports, Election Cards, Identity Cards, etc. It will require the
Government to create a virtual identity of every citizen so as to enable them to access
the Government services online. For the same, Government would need to create a
Citizen Database which is a huge task.
2. E-Registration - E-Registration will cover the online registration of various
contracts. An individual enters into several contracts during his life. Many of these
contracts and transactions require registration for giving it legality and enforceability.
Such registration may also be made information and communications technology
enabled. E-registration will help to reduce a significant amount of paperwork.
3. E-Transportation - E-Transportation services would include information and
communications technology enablement of services of Government relating to
Transport by Road, Rail, Water or Air. VAHAN has been implemented by the
Government.
This may involve online -
 booking and cancellation of tickets,
 status of vehicles, railways, boats and flights,
 issue and renewal of Driving Licenses,
 registration and renewal of vehicles,
 transfer of vehicles,
 payment of the fees of licenses,
 payment of fees and taxes for vehicle registration,
4. E-Health - E-Health services would be information and communications technology
enablement of the health services of the Government. Under this interconnection of
all hospitals may take place. A patient database may be created. A local pharmacy
database may also be created. All this can be done.
5. E-Education - E-Education would cover the implementation of information and
communications technology in imparting of education and conducting of Courses.
Distant as well as classroom education will be facilitated with the use of information
and communications technology. Use of internet can reduce the communication time
required in Distance education; Internet may also help in conducting online classes.
6. E-Help - E-Help refers to facilitation of disaster and crisis management using
information and communications technology. It includes the use of technologies like
internet, SMS, etc. for the purpose of reducing the response time of the Government
agencies to the disasters. NGOs help Government in providing help in situations of

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 disasters. Online information relating to disasters, warnings and calls for help can
help the Government and the NGOs coordinate their work and facilitate and speed up
the rescue work.
7. E-Taxation - E-Taxation will facilitate the taxing process by implementing
information and communications technology in the taxing process. Online tax due
alerts and online payment of taxes would help transact faster.
SOME INITIATIVES:

 Computerization of Land Records: In collaboration with NIC. Ensuring that

landowners get computerized copies of ownership, crop and tenancy and updated copies
of Records of Rights (RoRs) on demand.
 Bhoomi Project: Online delivery of Land Records. Self-sustainable e-Governance
project for the computerized delivery of 20 million rural land records to 6.7 million
farmers through 177 Government-owned kiosks in the State of Karnataka
 Gyandoot: It is an Intranet-based Government to Citizen (G2C) service delivery
initiative. It was initiated in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh in January 2000 with
the twin objective of providing relevant information to the rural population and acting
as an interface between the district administration and the people.
 Lokvani Project in Uttar Pradesh: Lokvani is a public-private partnership project at
Sitapur District in Uttar Pradesh which was initiated in November, 2004. Its objective is
to provide a single window, self-sustainable e-Governance solution with regard to
handling of grievances, land record maintenance and providing a mixture of essential
services.
 Project FRIENDS in Kerala: FRIENDS (Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient Network for
the Disbursement of Services) is a Single Window Facility providing citizens the means
to pay taxes and other financial dues to the State Government.The services are provided
through FRIENDS Janasevana Kendrams located in the district headquarters.
 e-Mitra Project in Rajasthan: e-Mitra is an integrated project to facilitate the urban
and the rural masses with maximum possible services related to different state
government departments through Lokmitra-Janmitra Centers/Kiosks.
 e-Seva (Andhra Pradesh): This project is designed to provide ‘Government to Citizen’
and ‘e-Business to Citizen’ services. The highlight of the eSeva project is that all the
services are delivered online to consumers /citizens by connecting them to the
respective government departments and providing online information at the point of
service delivery.

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 Admission to Professional Colleges – Common Entrance Test (CET):
With the rapid growth in the demand as well as supply of professional education, the
process of admission to these institutions became a major challenge in the early 1990s.
Recourse was then taken to ICT to make the process of admission transparent and
objective. One of the pioneering efforts was made by Karnataka. The State Government
decided to conduct a common entrance test based on which admission to different
colleges and disciplines was made.

Citizen to Government
Citizen to Government relationship will include the communication of citizens with the
Government arising in the Democratic process like voting, campaigning, feedback, etc.
1. E-Democracy - The true concept of Democracy includes the participation of the
citizens in the democratic and governing process. The information and
communications technology can help enable the true democratic process including
voting, public opinion, feedback and Government accountability.
2. E-Feedback - E-Feedback includes the use of information and communications
technology for the purpose of giving feedback to the Government. Lobbying is
pursuing the Government to take a certain decision. Use of information and
communications technology can enable online feedback to the Government, online
debates as to the Government services.

Government to Government
G2G relationship would include the relationships between Central and State Government
and also the relationship between two or more Government departments.
1. E-administration - E-administration would include the implementation of
information and communications technology in the functioning of the Government,
internally and externally. Implementation of information and communications
technology can reduce the communication time between the Government
Departments and Governments. It can substantially reduce paperwork if properly
used. E-administration will also bring morality and transparency to the
administration of Government Departments.
2. E-police - The concept of E-police is little different from Cyber-Police. Cyber Police
require technology experts to curb the electronic/cybercrimes. E-police refers to the
use of information and communications technology for the purpose of facilitating the
work of the Police department in investigation and administration. The concept of E-

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 police includes databases of Police Officers, their performances, Criminal databases -
wanted as well as in custody, the trends in crimes and much more. Information and
communications technology can help reduce the response time of the Police
department and also reduce cost by reducing paperwork.
3. E-courts - The concept of E-Court will include the information and communications
technology enablement of the judicial process. Technology may help distant hearing,
online summons and warrants and online publication of Judgments and Decrees.
SOME INITIATIVES:

 Khajane Project in Karnataka: It is a comprehensive online treasury computerization

project of the Government of Karnataka. The project has resulted in the computerization
of the entire treasury related activities of the State Government and the system has the
ability to track every activity right from the approval of the State Budget to the point of
rendering accounts to the government.
 SmartGov (Andhra Pradesh): SmartGov has been developed to streamline operations,
enhance efficiency through workflow automation and knowledge management for
implementation in the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat.

Government to Business
1. E-Taxation - Corporate sector pays many taxes, duties and dues to the Government.
Payment of these taxes and duties will be made easier by E-Taxation. Online taxing
and online payment of taxes can help reduce cost and time required for physical
submission of taxes. Information and communications technology can also help
crosscheck the frauds and deficiencies in payment, further bringing accuracy and
revenue to the Government.
2. E-Licensing - Companies have to acquire various licenses from the Government,
similarly the companies have to acquire various registrations. information and
communications technology enablement of the licensing and registration can reduce
time and cost.
3. E-Tendering - E-Tendering will include the facilities of online tendering and
procurement. It will online alerts as to new opportunities of business with the
Government and also online submission of tenders and online allotment of work. It
will reduce time and cost involved in the physical tendering system.
SOME INITIATIVES:

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 E-Procurement Project in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat:
To reduce the time and cost of doing business for both vendors and government.
 MCA 21: By the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The project aims at providing easy and
secure online access to all registry related services provided by the Union Ministry
of Corporate Affairs to corporates and other stakeholders at any time and in a manner
that best suits them.

E-Governance is the future; many countries are looking forward to for a corruption free
government. E-government is one-way communication protocol whereas E-governance is
two-way communication protocol. The essence of E-governance is to reach the beneficiary
and ensure that the services intended to reach the desired individual has been met with.
There should be an auto-response system to support the essence of E-governance, whereby
the Government realizes the efficacy of its governance. E-governance is by the governed, for
the governed and of the governed.3

3
Barman Himadri, “E‐Governance in India: How Citizens Benefit?”, 2009.

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 OBJECTIVES OF E-GOVERNANCE

Following are the objectives/aims of E-Governance:

 To build an informed society - An informed society is an empowered society. So
providing access to all to every piece of information of the Government and of public
importance is one of the basic objective of E-Governance.
 To increase Government and Citizen Interaction - In the physical world, the
Government and Citizens hardly interact. E-Governance aims at build a feedback
framework, to get feedback from the people and to make the Government aware of
people’s problems.
 To encourage citizen participation - True democracy requires participation of each
individual citizen. Increased population has led to representative democracy, which is
not democracy in the true sense. E-governance aims to restore democracy to its true
meaning by improving citizen participation in the Governing process,
 To bring transparency in the governing process - E- governance carries an objective
to make the Governing process transparent by making all the Government data and
information available to the people for access. It is to make people know the decisions,
and policies of the Government.
 To make the Government accountable - Government is responsible and answerable for
every act decision taken by it. E-Governance aims and will help make the Government
more accountable than now by bringing transparency’s and making the citizens more
informed.
 To reduce the cost of Governance - E-Governance also aims to reduce cost of
governance by cutting down on expenditure on physical delivery of information and
services. It aims to do this by cutting down on stationary, which amounts to the most of
the government’s expenditure.
 To reduce the reaction time of the Government - Normally due to red-tapism and
other reasons, the Government takes long to reply to people’s queries and problems. E-
Governance aims to reduce the reaction time of the Government to the people’s queries
and problems, due to the fact that problems are basically Government’s problems as
Government is for the people.4

4
“E-Governance in India”, retrieved from: http://indiaegovernance.blogspot.in/2008/03/scope-of-e-
governance.html (assessed on 24/02/2018 at 5:00 pm)

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 LEGAL POSITION IN INDIA

Provisions of Chapter - III of Information Technology Act, 2000 extending from S. 4 to 10A
gives legal recognition to E-Governance in India. They are explained as follows:

Section 4: Legal Recognition of Electronic Records5 - Section 4 of the IT Act says that
any information or other matter required by any law to be in writing can be in electronic
form. Due to the tremendous growth of Internet services, more than 90 percent of the records
created at present are in electronic form. However, cyber laws across the world did not
recognize electronic communication as legally valid. The two main legal barriers of e-
commerce and e-governance were Necessity to record information on tangible medium and
Requirement of hand written signatures.
However, Section 4, of the IT Act provides that, if there is a legal requirement for
any information to be in written from, such a requirement shall be considered to be satisfied,
in case where the information is:
• Made available in an electronic form; and
• Accessible for subsequent uses.
Section 5: Legal recognition of Electronic Signature6 - Section 5 says that where any law
requires any information or other matter to be authenticated by the signature of any person,
when such requirement shall be deemed to be satisfied, if such information or matter is
authenticated by means of digital signature affixed in the manner provided by the Rules.
Section 6: Use of Electronic Records and Electronic Signature in Government and its
agencies7 - Section 6 elaborates this specifically in the context of electronic filing with the

5
Section 4: Legal Recognition of Electronic Records - Where any law provides that information or any other
matter shall be in writing or in the typewritten or printed form, then, notwithstanding anything contained in
such law, such requirement shall be deemed to have been satisfied if such information or matter is -
a. Rendered or made available in an electronic form; and
b. Accessible so as to be usable for a subsequent reference
6
Section 5: Legal recognition of Electronic Signature - Where any law provides that information or any other
matter shall be authenticated by affixing the signature or any document should be signed or bear the signature
of any person then, notwithstanding anything contained in such law, such requirement shall be deemed to have
been satisfied, if such information or matter is authenticated by means of electronic signature affixed in such
manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
Explanation - For the purposes of this section, “Signed”, with its grammatical variations and cognate
expressions, shall, with reference to a person, mean affixing of his hand written signature or any mark on any
document and the expression “Signature” shall be construed accordingly.
7
Section 6: Use of Electronic Records and Electronic Signature in Government and its agencies- (1) Where
any law provides for -
a. the filing of any form, application or any other document with any office, authority, body or agency owned
or controlled by the appropriate Government in a particular manner;

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government or any office, authority, body or agency owned or controlled by the
governments. It interalia provides that where any law provides for filing of any form
application or other document with any such authority then such requirement shall be
deemed to have been satisfied, if such filing is effected by means of such electronic form as
may be prescribed by the appropriate government.
Now, say for example MCA21; in ministry of corporate affairs e- filing is compulsory,
similarly UPSC has made e-application mandatory.
Section 6-A: Delivery of Services by Service Provider8 - New Section 6A introduced to
provide for appointment of Service Providers in e-Governance services and enable delivery
of services by private service providers. This section is important for the legal enablement of
several services already introduced by different Governments which were capable of being
questioned for legal validity.
As it is evident, information and technology have deep interference in modern life style.
More and more services are to be offered to the consumers, and for that huge infrastructure
are to be needed. No everything is to be coming from the government so to avoid any such
situation this section is inserted in the Information technology Act.

b. the issue or grant of any license, permit, sanction or approval by whatever name called in a particular
manner;
c. the receipt or payment of money in a particular manner, then, notwithstanding anything contained in any
other law for the time being in force, such requirement shall be deemed to have been satisfied if such filing,
issue, grant, receipt or payment, as the case may be, is effected by means of such electronic form as may be
prescribed by the appropriate Government.
(2) The appropriate Government may, for the purposes of sub-section (1), by rules, prescribe -
a. the manner and format in which such electronic records shall be filed, created or issued;
the manner or method of payment of any fee or charges for filing, creation or issue any electronic record under
clause (a).
8
Section 6-A: Delivery of Services by Service Provider -(1) The appropriate Government may, for the
purposes of this Chapter and for efficient delivery of services to the public through electronic means authorise ,
by order, any service provider to set up, maintain and upgrade the computerised facilities and perform such
other services as it may specify, by notification in the Official Gazette.
Explanation - For the purposes of this section, service provider so authorised includes any individual, private
agency, private company, partnership firm, sole proprietor form or any such other body or agency which has
been granted permission by the appropriate Government to offer services through electronic means in
accordance with the policy governing such service sector.
(2) The appropriate Government may also authorise any service provider authorised under sub-section (1) to
collect, retain and appropriate service charges, as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government for the
purpose of providing such services, from the person availing such service.
(3) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), the appropriate Government may authorise the service pro-
viders to collect, retain and appropriate service charges under this section notwithstanding the fact that there is
no express provision under the Act, rule, regulation or notification under which the service is provided to
collect, retain and appropriate e-service charges by the service providers.
(4) The appropriate Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify the scale of service
charges which may be charged and collected by the service providers under this section: Provided the appro-
priate Government may specify different scale of service charges for different types of services.

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This section primarily gives the legal sanction for the service providers e.g. any service
provider, from electricity to internet, from taxes to banking, to establish, maintain and
upgrade time to time the infrastructure established by them.
Further, if any such expenses occur, obviously customers have to bear them, so the provision
made to legalize the service charges payable by the customers.
Section 7: Retention of Electronic Records9 - Section 7 of the Act designed for the safe
keeping and disposal of records. Section denies any difference between the paper records
keeping and electronic record keeping.
Electronic records can be defined as information created, maintained, or retained in any
digitized configuration. Such information can reside on a CD, harddisk, tape, or any other
magnetic storage unit. Moreover, record types have expanded from text to audio, fax, music,
pictures, video, x-rays, and a variety of other new document and file formats. Records in any
or all such formats must be captured, edited, indexed, cross-referenced, retrieved, and
eventually erased or destroyed. Faced with this proliferation of information, dispersed
amongst various media sources, IT executives need to formulate a strategy and implement
policies to deal with the burgeoning volume of such records
As per the requirement of this section, if any law requires safe keeping of the records, it can
be done by electronic records retention as well. Provided that records kept in electronic
format should be able to use subsequently. Further the actual format, e.g. in which it was
generated should maintained throughout. This section further elaborates on the point of
identity of the record. The original particulars of the document should be maintained in the
electronic format. However this section does not find its application in electronically
generated records.
Section 7-A: Audit of Documents etc. in Electronic form10 - New Section 7A introduced
to make audit of Electronic documents mandatory wherever the legacy physical records
were subject to audit.

9
Section 7: Retention of Electronic Records - (1) Where any law provides that documents, records or informa-
tion shall be retained for any specific period, then, that requirement shall be deemed to have been satisfied if
such documents, records or information are retained in the electronic form, if -
a. the information contained therein remains accessible so as to be usable for a subsequent reference;
b. the electronic record is retained in the format in which it was originally generated, sent or received or in a
format which can be demonstrated to represent accurately the information originally generated, sent or
received;
c. the details which will facilitate the identification of the origin, destination, date and time of dispatch or
receipt of such electronic record are available in the electronic record:
Provided that this clause does not apply to any information which is automatically generated solely for the
purpose of enabling an electronic record to be dispatched or received.
(2) Nothing in this section shall apply to any law that expressly provides for the retention of documents, re-
cords or information in the form of electronic records.

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This section now makes it mandatory for the Government to get all the electronic documents
audited. While one can appreciate the need for this provision felt by the standing committee,
we need to also understand the enormity of this responsibility. The huge volumes of records
held by the Government under e-Governance projects make it near impossible for an audit to
be conducted in the traditional fashion. It is not possible for an auditor to look at a document
and check if it is the same which was there the previous year. There is a need for technical
enablement of such comparison through a recording of hash values of all files stored as a
part of the e-Governance process. These hash tables need to be archived and digitally signed
by the auditors as a part of their audit process.
In some cases of e-Governance, it may not be possible to comply with this provision fully in
respect of legacy documents.
Section 8: Publication of rules, regulation, etc, in Electronic Gazette11 - The obvious
intention of introducing this section was to satisfy the legal requirements regarding
publishing of Gazettes and to provide legal recognition to e-Gazettes. A normal reading of
intention behind such a measure is to bring greater transparency, convenience and economy
to the system of publishing Gazettes. It would be in order for the Government under this
section to start publishing Gazettes in e-form and start discontinuing issue of paper based
Gazette Notifications.
Those who want a paper copy can always print out the e-documents. Incase the print copy is
required for judicial purpose, they can get it certified under Section 65B of Indian Evidence
Act.
The Government has now taken decisive steps to replace paper based transactions in filing
of corporate Income Tax returns as well as MCI returns. Similar steps in other functions of
the Government are therefore in order. Gazette publication could be considered as one other
initiative that is feasible to be converted from paper form to only electronic form.
After nearly 8 years since the legal enablement through ITA 2000, Government of India took
the first steps in publication of Gazette notifications in e-form when it launched the website

10
Section 7-A: Audit of Documents etc. in Electronic form -Where in any law for the time being in force, there
is a provision for audit of documents, records or information, that provision shall also be applicable for audit of
documents, records or information processed and maintained in electronic form.
11
Section 8: Publication of rules, regulation, etc, in Electronic Gazette- Where any law provides that any rule,
regulation, order, bye-law, notification or any other matter shall be published in the Official Gazette, then, such
requirement shall be deemed to have been satisfied if such rule, regulation, order, bye-law, notification or any
other matter is published in the Official Gazette or Electronic Gazette:
Provided that where any rule, regulation, order, bye- law, notification or any other matters published in the
Official Gazette or Electronic Gazette, the date of publication shall be deemed to be the date of the Gazette
which was first published in any form.

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http:// egazette.nic.in; is maintained by the ministry of urban department which earlier was
entrusted with the functions of printing the gazette notifications.
The e-Gazette will also help the media, social activists and many users for various other
purposes like research, court cases and settlement of legal documents to a great extent”.
The Orissa high Court in Orissa Consumers’ Association v. Orissa Electricity Regulatory,12
held that “the aforesaid provisions in the Information Technology Act, 2000 inter alia
provide that if a notification is published in the Electronic Gazette, the notification is
deemed to have been published in the Official Gazette. The Proviso to Section 8 of the Act
also makes it clear that where the notification is published both in the Official Gazette and
the Electronic Gazette, the date of publication shall be deemed to be the date of Gazette
which was first published in any form.”

Section 9: Sections 6, 7 and 8 Not to Confer Right to insist document should be

accepted in electronic form13 - Section 9 limits the public right to use the electronic means
while dealing with the any government or any government department. As per the section
there can be no insistence for application of section 6, 7 and 8, upon any such government or
government department.
The logical reason behind this could be the laggard government policies. Government still is
unable to provide sufficient infrastructure to provide full spectrum of services. Thus it is
absolute right of the department to indulge itself into information technology or not.

Section 10: Power to Make Rules by Central Government in respect of Electronic

Signature14 - It is always felt that along with the statutory laws, to support and for better
implementation, a detain set of rules is always required. So, appropriate governments have

12
AIR 2005 Ori 11
13
Section 9: Sections 6, 7 and 8 Not to Confer Right to insist document should be accepted in electronic form -
Nothing contained in sections 6, 7 and 8 shall confer a right upon any person to insist that any Ministry or
Department of the Central Government or the State Government or any authority or body established by or
under any law or controlled or funded by the Central or State Government should accept, issue, create, retain
and preserve any document in the form of electronic records or effect any monetary transaction in the elec-
tronic form.
14
Section 10: Power to Make Rules by Central Government in respect of Electronic Signature -The Central
Government may, for the purposes of this Act, by rules, prescribe -
a. The type of Electronic Signature;
b. The manner and format in which the Electronic Signature shall be affixed;
c. The manner or procedure which facilitates identification of the person affixing the Electronic Signature;
d. Control processes and procedures to ensure adequate integrity, security and confidentiality of electronic
records or payments; and
e. Any other matter which is necessary to give legal effect to Electronic Signatures.

Page 18
been given the powers to bring in these rules as and when require and as per their
requirement.
Thus, to achieve this central government bought Information Technology (Certifying
Authority) Rules, 2000.
Rules notified under the Information Technology Act, 2000
1) The Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and Procedures
and sensitive personal data or information) Rules, 2011.
2) The Information Technology (Electronic Service Delivery) Rules, 2011
3) The Information Technology (Intermediaries guidelines) Rules, 2011
4) The Information Technology (Guidelines for Cyber Cafe) Rules, 2011
5) The Cyber Appellate Tribunal (Salary, Allowances and other terms and conditions of
service of Chairperson and Members) Rules, 2009
6) The Cyber Appellate Tribunal (Procedure for investigation of Misbehaviour or
Incapacity of Chairperson and Members) Rules, 2009
7) The Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of
Information by Public), 2009
8) The Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for interception, monitoring and
decryption of information) Rules, 2009
9) The Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguard for Monitoring and Collecting
Traffic Data or Information) Rules, 2009
10) The Information Technology (Use of electronic records and digital signatures) Rules,
2004. The Information Technology (Security Procedure) Rules, 2004
11) The Information Technology (Other Standards) Rules, 2003. The Information
Technology (Certifying Authority) Regulations, 2001
12) Information Technology (Certifying Authorities) Rules, 2000 As per the section central
government may prescribe, the types of electronic signature, the manner of affixing the
signature, procedure of identification of person affixing signature etc.
Section 10-A: Validity of contracts formed through electronic means15 - A new section
10A has been inserted to the effect that contracts concluded electronically shall not be
deemed to be unenforceable solely on the ground that electronic form or means was used.
Since contract is involved thus the law of contract will play a major role here, but one thing
should kept in mind that this section only validated the contract in electronic form, it does

15
Section 10-A: Validity of contracts formed through electronic means- Where in a contract formation, the
communication of proposals, the acceptance of proposals, the revocation of proposals and acceptances, as the
case may be, are expressed in electronic form or by means of an electronic record, such contract shall not be
deemed to be unenforceable solely on the ground that such electronic form or means was used for that purpose.

Page 19
not amend or modify the existing law of contract. Thus it makes no point to repeat existing
law of contract again. Obviously a quick revision of rules regarding postal contract and
telephonic/instantaneous contract is required.
The only difference between these two rules is the time taken in proposal or acceptance or
evocation of the contract. Contract through post is complete when acceptor puts his
acceptance into transmission so as to be out of the power of the said acceptor and the
contract is made at the place where acceptance. However in instantaneous communication
contract is complete when the acceptance is received by the offeror and the contract is made
at the place where the acceptance is received. Obviously e contract is fine example of
instantaneous contract.
Rule 3 of Information Technology(Electronic Service Delivery) Rules, 2011 - System of
electronic service delivery 16 - The appropriate Government may on its own or through an
agency authorised by it deliver public services through electronically enabled kiosks or any
other electronic service delivery machine.
1. The appropriate Government or its agencies may specify the form and the manner of
Electronic Service Delivery.
2. The appropriate Government may determine the manner of encrypting sensitive
electronic records requiring confidentiality, while they are electronically signed.
3. The appropriate Government must notify the service providers and their agents
authorised for Electronic Service Delivery.
4. The appropriate Government may allow receipt of payments made by adopting the
Electronic Service Delivery System to be a deemed receipt of payment effected in
compliance with the financial code and treasury code of such government.
5. The appropriate Government may authorise service provider or their authorised agents to
collect, retain and appropriate such service charges as may be specified by the

16
Rule 3. System of Electronic Service Delivery- (1) The appropriate Government may on its own or through
an agency authorised by it, deliver public services through electronically- enabled kiosks or any other
electronic service delivery mechanism. (2) The appropriate Government or its agencies may specify the form
and the manner of Electronic Service Delivery. (3) The appropriate Government may determine the manner of
encrypting sensitive electronic records requiring confidentiality, white they are electronically signed. (4) The
appropriate Government shall notify the service providers and their agents authorised for Electronic Service
Delivery. (5) The appropriate Government may allow receipt of payments made by adopting the Electronic
Service Delivery System to be a deemed receipt of payment effected in compliance with the financial code and
treasury code of such Government. (6) The appropriate Government may authorise service providers or their
authorised agents to collect, retain and appropriate such service charges as may be specified by the appropriate
Government for the purpose of providing such services from the person availing such services: Provided that
the apportioned service charges shall be clearly indicated on the receipt to be given to the person availing the
services. (7) The appropriate Government shall by notification specify the scale of service charges which may
be charged and collected by the service providers and their authorised agents for various kinds of services. (8)
The appropriate Government may also determine the norms on service levels to be complied with by the
Service Provider and the authorised agents.

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 appropriate government for the purpose of providing such services from the person
availing such services:
Provided that the apportioned service charges must be clearly indicated on the receipt to be
given to the person availing the services.
6. The appropriate Government must by notification specify the scale of service charges
which may be charged and collected by the service providers and their authorised agents
for various kinds of services.
7. The appropriate Government may also determine the norms on service levels to be
complied with by the Service Provider and the authorised agents.

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 NATIONAL E-GOVERNANCE PLAN: THE COMMON FUTURE FOR ALL

The National e-Governance Plan of Indian Government seeks to lay the foundation and
provide the impetus for long term growth of e-Governance within the country. This provides
information on creation of the right governance and institutional mechanisms, setting up the
core infrastructure and policies and implementation of a number of Mission Mode Projects
at the Center, State and integrated service levels.17
The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has been formulated by the Department of
Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) and Department of Administrative
Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). The Union Government approved the NeGP,
comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 10 components on May 18, 2006.
The NeGP aims at improving delivery of Government services to citizens and businesses
with the following vision:”Make all Government services accessible to the common man in
his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency &
reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common
man.”18
Implementation of e-Governance is a highly complex process requiring provisioning of
hardware & software, networking, process re-engineering and change management.

17
meity.gov.in/divisions/national-e-governance-plan (last accessed on 2/3/2018 at 4:00pm)
18
negd.gov.in/e-kranti-negp-20-framework-0 (last accessed on 2/3/2018 at 4:00pm)

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 CHALLENGES FACED AND SOLUTIONS SUGGESTED.

 There is a serious lack of awareness among the lower classes of society about the
technological growth in the area of e-governance, which might not result in the actual
benefits expected out of it to provide an overall welfare of the citizens of India. There is a
need for NGO's to take up the cause of spreading the knowledge regarding e-governance
services in the villages to give e-governance its overall benefits to the society at large.
 There is resistance been posed to the introduction of the new system of e-governance, as
the sudden change is never trusted. According to me, if there is proper administration of it
then we can come up with an equally efficient system like that of the other federal
countries like Canada, and Singapore etc. If the system is working well for the several
countries then will as might as well work for India.
 Lack of Programme management skills have to be overcome by choosing good qualified
administration to manage the entire network of e-governance efficiently, and the other
argument raised against the e-governance is the huge investment required for the project.
Through it would induce huge investment for the project but the fact mustn't be ignored
that the same would also attract long term benefits, and therefore the government mustn't
hesitate to initiate the process as it would produce long term benefits and would also help
in better collection of revenue for the governmental activities.
 There is a need for proper legislation to smoothen up the establishment and
implementation of the projects. There is a need for involvement by different bodies for
the purpose of designing efficient standards for e-governance. Five groups have been
formed and an apex committee has also been formed at the Department of the Information
Technology.
 Committees must be constituted to look into the issues of concern after e-governance
would be adopted like storage of information, and security of the information. Data
protection would be of main concern later point of time therefore for the system to be
legally canalized there is a need for Law to look into the issue of protection of the Data
under e-governance and provide penalty and provisions for better administration. Though
safety measures can now be curbed by the system of Unicoding, passwords to the system
(to prevent the access to the main information of the computer about all its customers),
but still remains a need for proper law to administer e-governance. Its hard to come up
with a devices with a huge storage capacity at a large scale in such a time frame, due to
the large population of India its hard to keep a track of the identity of all the individuals
for huge number of services provided under the e-governance.

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  The other challenge likely to be faced is the existing regional languages in India. Being
multi-linguistic Country, introducing computers with multi-linguistic approach can help
the situation.
 There is no integration of services offered by the State and Central Government. The
information residing with one department is usually not transmitted to the other
department. This results in uncertainty as to the payments been made by the individual
and makes the service untrustworthy. Therefore proper integration for the services is
required by the Government at all levels.
 Like the tax structure in Mauritius where citizens can file the returns and pay taxes from
one site dealing with payments of taxes, and get an electronic confirmation for the filing
of tax returns. This can be helpful for any future reference or disputes if any arises on the
fact of filing the tax returns on time. The same system is required to be adopted in India
for making the system work in smooth way.
These solutions can pave a way to exponentially greater benefits to the common man, and help
in the success to various governments.

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 CONCLUSION

Since Internet Technology has evolved rapidly in the last few years, there is a need to think
strategically about where we want to be in the future. As time goes on, new technologies
will continue to develop at a rapid pace and we must be flexible enough by showing quick
response to the technology explosion. The state that are faster in adopting the technology
have started reaping the benefits already. Process level changes are required before meshing
to the web to launch the ‘Government Online’. At the same time the government managers
should quickly learn to use technology fueled management tools for administrative
efficiency and use them for a more value added service to the citizens.19
To make the futuristic vision work, there is a need for collaboration among e-Governance
virtual communities. This demand more political and organizational will take hard
decisions, change themselves and learn to build capacities for e-Governance. ‘Outdated’
regulations and procedures are to be removed before launching the project. The above issues
and challenges are not beyond our capacity to resolve, but they need immediate attention.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

19
“History & Development of e-Governance”, retrieved from: www.aigetoachtd.org (assessed on 1/03/2018 at
6:30pm)

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 Books Referred
 Ahmed, Farooq., “Cyber Law in India”, New Era Law Publishers, 3rd edition, 2008
 Mittal, D.P., “Law of Information Technology”, Taxmann Publishers, New Delhi, Ed.
2000
 Diwan., Prag and Shimmi Kapoor, “Cyber and E-Commerce Law”, Bharat Publishers,
2nd Edition, 2000
 Sharma, Vakul., “Information Technology: Law and Practice”, Universal Law
Publishers, 2nd edition, 2007
 Verma., Dr.Amita., “Cyber Crimes and Law”, Central Law Publications, Allahabad, Ed.
2012
 Vinod Vipull, “Cyber and Technology Laws”, Krishna Publications, New Delhi, 2009.
 Information Technology Act, 2000.

Weblinks

 http://indiaegovernance.blogspot.in/2008/03/objectives-of-e-governance.html
 www.aigetoachtd.org
 www.egovindia.org/egovernancepaper.doc
 negd.gov.in/e-kranti-negp-20-framework-0
 http://www.indiancybersecurity.com/cyber_law/19_e_governance.html
 http://www.cyberforensics.in/
 http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l143-Role-of-Law-in-E-governance.html
 http://meity.gov.in/writereaddata/files/eGovernance_Project_Lifecycle_Participant_Han
dbook-5Day_CourseV1_20412.pdf

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