IT Act and E-Governance: Framework, Programmes and E-Courts

The Preamble to the IT Act names two purposes side by side: legal recognition of electronic commerce, and facilitating electronic filing of documents with government agencies. The second purpose has transformed Indian administration, from tax returns and company filings to land records, court cases and welfare payments. Topic 6 set out the text of Sections 6 to 10 as part of legal recognition. This note takes the wider view: what e-governance is, its models and stages, how the Act supports it, the programmes built on it, and the constitutional questions that digital government now raises.

1. The Government Office in Your Pocket

A generation ago, getting a caste certificate or paying property tax meant a day off work, a queue at a window, and often a middleman. Today the same service can be obtained on a phone, with a digitally signed certificate that any office must accept. The counter did not disappear; it moved into the pocket. The IT Act is what makes the digital certificate as valid as the stamped paper, and the online payment as good as cash at the window.

2. Meaning and Aims of E-Governance

Meaning. The use of information and communication technology by government to deliver services, exchange information, conduct transactions and integrate its own systems, making administration efficient, transparent and accessible.
SMART governance. Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent, a formulation widely used to describe the aims of e-governance in India.
E-government and e-governance. E-government refers to the government's own use of technology; e-governance is wider, covering the relationship between government, citizens and businesses through technology.

Four models of e-governance

Figure 1: Four models of e-governance

Stages of e-governance maturity

Figure 2: Stages of e-governance maturity

3. The Legal Framework in the IT Act

The IT Act provisions that support e-governance

Figure 3: The IT Act provisions that support e-governance

Foundation (ss.4 and 5). Without legal recognition of electronic records and signatures, no electronic certificate, order or licence would satisfy a statute requiring writing or signature.
Electronic delivery (s.6). Where a law requires filing of forms, issue of licences, permits, sanctions or approvals, or receipt or payment of money, doing so electronically in the prescribed manner satisfies the law. The appropriate Government may prescribe the manner, format and fees.
Service providers (s.6A). Added in 2008, it allows the appropriate Government to authorise private service providers, such as operators of Common Service Centres, to deliver e-services and to collect service charges on a scale specified by the Government.
Retention and audit (ss.7 and 7A). Records required to be kept may be kept electronically if accessible, accurate and with origin and time details; laws on audit apply equally to electronic records. These make e-Office and paperless files lawful.
Electronic Gazette (s.8). Publication in the Electronic Gazette satisfies a requirement to publish in the Official Gazette, and the date of first publication in either form is the date of publication.
No right to insist (s.9). Sections 6, 7 and 8 do not give anyone a right to insist that a government department accept, issue or retain documents electronically. E-governance is enabled, not mandated, by the Act.
Rules (ss.10 and 87). The Central Government makes rules on electronic signatures and on the manner of electronic filing and payment, including the IT (Use of Electronic Records and Digital Signatures) Rules, 2004.
DigiLocker Rules, 2016. Rule 9A treats documents issued into DigiLocker as equivalent to original physical documents.

4. National Programmes Built on the Act

Milestones of e-governance in India

Figure 4: Milestones of e-governance in India

National e-Governance Plan (2006). Launched a set of Mission Mode Projects covering areas such as income tax, passports, company affairs (MCA21), land records and e-District, with shared infrastructure of State data centres, State wide area networks and Common Service Centres.
Digital India (2015). Built on three vision areas: digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen, governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens.
Platforms. Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for public procurement, GSTN for tax, UMANG as a single app for government services, DigiLocker for documents, and e-Sign for signatures.
Right to Information. The RTI Act, 2005 includes obtaining information in electronic form within the right to information (s.2(j)) and requires proactive disclosure by public authorities, increasingly through websites (s.4)

5. E-Courts and Electronic Justice

The e-Courts project. Begun in 2007 under the guidance of the Supreme Court's e-Committee, it has computerised courts, created the National Judicial Data Grid, and introduced e-filing, e-payment of court fees and virtual hearings. Phase III was approved in 2023.
Criminal procedure. The BNSS allows trials, inquiries and proceedings in electronic mode (s.530), summons in electronic form (s.63), and audio-video recording of search and seizure (s.105)
Electronic service. Courts have permitted service by email and messaging applications (In Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitation, 2020), but notices to accused persons under Section 35 BNSS must be served in the prescribed manner and not by WhatsApp (Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI, 2025)
Evidence. Electronic records are admissible under Sections 61 to 63 of the BSA (see Topic 9)

6. The Constitutional Dimension

Digital access and constitutional rights

Figure 5: Digital access and constitutional rights

📖 Amar Jain v. Union of India (Supreme Court, 30 April 2025)

Facts: Acid attack survivors with facial disfigurement and persons with visual impairment could not complete digital KYC, which required live selfies, blinking and head movements, and so were shut out of banking and government services.

Held: The right to digital access is an intrinsic part of the right to life and liberty under Article 21. The State must ensure that digital services, including e-KYC, are inclusive and accessible. The Court issued directions to revise KYC processes accordingly.

Significance: As services move online, access to the digital channel itself becomes a constitutional concern, not merely an administrative convenience.

Faheema Shirin R.K. v. State of Kerala (Kerala High Court, 2019). Hostel rules restricting students' use of mobile phones and internet were set aside; the right to access the internet was held to be part of the right to education and the right to privacy under Article 21.
Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India, (2020) 3 SCC 637. Freedom of speech and freedom of trade through the internet are protected; restrictions on internet access must be necessary and proportionate.
Puttaswamy (Aadhaar), (2019) 1 SCC 1. Aadhaar-based delivery of subsidies and benefits was upheld, while the Court stressed that genuine beneficiaries must not be denied entitlements because of authentication failures.

7. Challenges of Digital Government

Digital divide. Gaps in connectivity, devices, literacy and language can turn online-only services into exclusion.
Accessibility. Portals and verification systems must be usable by persons with disabilities, as Amar Jain now requires.
Cyber security. Government systems hold vast personal data and are frequent targets, as the ransomware attack on AIIMS, New Delhi in 2022 showed; CERT-In and NCIIPC are central here.
Data protection. Government is a major data fiduciary under the DPDP Act, but the Act's exemptions for the State have been criticised.
Optional, not mandatory. Because of Section 9, the pace of e-governance depends on each department's decision to adopt electronic modes.

⚠ Exam trap

Do not write that the IT Act makes e-governance compulsory. Sections 6 to 8 enable electronic filing, issue, retention and publication, but Section 9 expressly denies any right to insist on the electronic mode. Compulsion, where it exists, comes from the specific law or rules of the department concerned.

8. Quick Revision and Memory Aids

'The counter moved into the pocket'. E-governance in one line.
'SMART'. Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive, Transparent.
'C-B-G-E'. G2C, G2B, G2G, G2E.
'Inform, interact, transact, transform'. Stages of maturity.
'6 files, 6A outsources, 7 keeps, 8 publishes, 9 limits'. The e-governance sections.
'Amar Jain: access is Article 21'. The constitutional dimension.

9. Frequently Asked Questions

Which provisions of the IT Act deal with e-governance?

Chapter III, Sections 4 to 10A, particularly Section 6 (electronic filing, licences and payments), Section 6A (service providers), Sections 7 and 7A (retention and audit), Section 8 (Electronic Gazette) and Section 9 (no right to insist on electronic form).

Is there a constitutional right to digital access?

Yes. In Amar Jain v. Union of India (2025), the Supreme Court held that the right to digital access is an intrinsic part of the right to life and liberty under Article 21, and directed that e-KYC processes be made accessible.

What is the role of Section 6A?

It allows the appropriate Government to authorise service providers to deliver electronic services to the public and to collect prescribed service charges, which is the legal basis for delivery through Common Service Centres and similar agencies.

10. Related Topics

Topic 6: Legal Recognition. Text of Sections 4, 5 and 10A and the e-governance sections.
Topic 14: IT Act and Digital Economy. Digital public infrastructure.