Banks, FIs to follow role check process for digital signatures

New Delhi, Mar 7 (ANI): The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has requested all banks and financial institutions (FIs) to follow the role-check process devised and published for the digital signatures (DSCs) belonging to authorized signatories of banks/FIs recently in its e-Governance project MCA21.

In a circular issued recently by the Ministry it has been stated that such precaution was very essential as these institutions had to carry out charge related services.

In promotion of e- Governance, the Ministry has mandated electronic filing by the companies using Digital Signature Certificates (DSCs) in conformity with the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The use of DSCs has been mandated for all filings to ensure the security and integrity of documents filed with the registry. To substantiate the requirements, the Ministry has introduced the role-check for the digital signatures to ensure that they are correctly applied by the authorized signatory.

The banks and FIs advance credit to the companies and create a charge on the assets so financed.

The charges so created are required to be registered with the Registrar of Companies (ROC) in order to be a secured creditor. The registration/modification/satisfaction of a charge are filed with the Registrar through the prescribed form, which has to bear the digital signatures of the company representative as well as the authorized signatory from the bank/FI.

The role-check in respect of the authorized signatory from the bank/FI is required to ensure that the digital signature applied is actually the digital signature of the authorized person. (ANI)