Obtain Digital Signature Certificate
Obtain Digital Signature,The Information Technology Act, 2000 provides for use of Digital Signatures on the documents submitted in electronic form in order to ensure the security and authenticity of the documents filed electronically. This is the only secure and authentic way that a document can be submitted electronically.
As such, all filings done by the companies under MCA21 e-Governance programme are required to be filed with the use of Obtain Digital Signatureby the person authorised to sign the documents.Legal Warning:You can use only the valid Digital Signatures issued to you. It is illegal to use Obtain Digital Signature of anybody other than the one to whom it is issued.Certification Agencies:Certification Agencies are appointed by the office of the Controller of Certification Agencies (CCA) under the provisions of IT Act, 2000. There are a total of seven Certification Agencies authorised by the CCA to issue the Digital Signature Certificates (DSCs).
The details of these Certification Agencies are available on the portal of the Ministry www.mca.gov.inClass of DSCs:The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has stipulated a Class-II or above category signing certificate for e-filings under MCA21. A person who already has the specified DSC for any other application can use the same for filings under MCA21 and is not required to obtain a fresh DSC.
Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs
How do I get a Digital Signature Certificate?
The Office of Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA), issues Certificate only to Certifying Authorities.CA issue Digital Signature Certificate to end-user. You can approach any one of the seven CAs for getting Digital Signature Certificate. The website addresses are given below.
www.safescrypt.com
www.nic.in
www.idrbtca.org.in
www.tcs-ca.tcs.co.in
www.ncodesolutions.com
www.e-Mudhra.com
Types of Classes of DSCs-Obtain Digital Signature
Class 1 Certificate: Class 1 DSCs are issued to individuals or private subscribers mainly employed in banks and financial institutions. The employers while communicating with the employees can use DSC 1. It validates the user’s name and email address of the user from an explicit subject name within the certifying authority repository. During issuance of Class 1 Certificates a basic level of assurance applicable to electronic environment is maintained and it is considered that the users are not likely to be vicious while accessing private information.
Class 2 Certificate: Class 2 DSCs are issued to private individuals as well as business personnel where there are moderate risks and incidences of data compromise. DSC 2 can be used for e-filing of sales tax, income tax etc. The application with supporting documents is to be submitted both online and offline but no physical appearance before the registering authority is required to prove identity. These certificates validate applicant’s identity using well-accepted consumer databases.
Class 3 Certificate: Class 3 DSCs are issued to organizations, individuals and servers where high level of security is needed. It is a high assurance certificate and physical appearance of the subscriber before the certifying authority is needed to prove identity. It is issued where fraud risk, failure of security services and data threats are high. These certificates are mainly designed for e-commerce applications like e-tendering, e-auctions etc. As per application requirements the private key and the matching public key incorporated in the Class 3 certificate must be generated and preserved in a secured manner. For server certification registered domain name along with other documents need to be provided.
Types of DSCs
DSCs may be for individuals, servers and for encryption purposes. Individual DSCs are used to identify a person, Server DSCs are required to identify a server and the Encryption DScs are applicable to encrypt the message.
Procurement of DSCs -Obtain Digital Signature
Six CAs in India are authorised by the CCA to issue DSCs[5]. Among them NIC (National Informatics Centre) issues certificates to the Government, PSUs and statutory bodies, IDRBT (Institute for Development of Research in Banking Technology) issues certificates to the banks and financial institutions and the other four namely Safescrypt, TCS, n(code) Solutions and eMudhra issue certificates to all other end users across all domains.