Report No. 185
Section 67
This section refers to "proof of signature and handwriting of person alleged to have signed or written (the) document produced." It reads as follows:
"67. If a document is alleged to be signed or to have been written wholly or in part by any person, the signature or the handwriting of so much of the document as is alleged to be in that person's handwriting must be proved to be in his handwriting."
After some discussion of Section 67 (including cases of registered documents), the 69th Report stated (see para 31.15) that no amendment is necessary. But, in our view, the following Explanation be added below Section 67 to clarify the meaning of the word 'execution' or 'signatures' in sections 68 to 73.
"Explanation:- In this section and in sections 68 to 73, the expressions 'execution' or 'signature' in relation to wills shall have the same meaning assigned to them under section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 and the expression 'attestation' shall mean signing or putting a mark by the attestor."
Section 67A:
This section was inserted by Act 21/2000 and deals with 'proof as to digital signature'. It states that except in the case of a 'secure digital signature', if the digital signature of any subscriber is alleged to have been affixed to an electronic record, the fact that such signature is the digital signature of the subscriber must be proved.
It may here be noted that the definition of 'digital signature' and of 'secure digital signature' is contained in the Information Technology Act, 2000 (Act 21/2000). Section 3 of the Evidence Act has been, as already stated, amended to say that the above expression and certain other expressions have the same meaning as given to them under Act 21/2000.
There are no proposals for amending Section 67A.