IT Act to come into force from Aug 15

The government has decided to enforce the Information Technology Act (IT), 2000 with effect from August 15.

Rules under the act are being finalised by a committee of top officials, headed by Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan. The IT Bill, 2000 was passed in the budget session of Parliament and President K R Narayanan gave his assent to the bill on May 9 when it was notified in the Gazette of India.

The government has also decided to de-bureaucratise the working and administration of IT Act, 2000. For this a controller in the rank of additional secretary to the Government of India has been sourced from IITs and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

The controller will be headquartered at New Delhi and will be designated chief authority for issuing certification, authentication and authorisation of digital signature for various corporate, banking and financial transactions.

Regional offices located in Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Bangalore, Hyderbad and other key commercial centres will assist the controller.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will announce the enforcement of the IT Act, 2000 and also the first authorised digital signature certificate in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

The controller will also be exercising direction, superintendence and control over the information technology policy of the government and will keep a tap on cyber-related crimes.

Besides, the Central Bureau of Investigation, state police and other security agencies of the Union government shall function in tandem with the office of the controller to keep a tab on hacking national and international cyber crimes. This will be within the meaning of Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Law of Evidence. The Banking and Financial Transactions Regulation will also be covered.

UNI

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