By Purushottam P. Khatri
Kathmandu, Aug. 20:Digital Signature (DS), which was previously brought into use in 2015 for both governmental and non-governmental offices, has not yet found widespread use in the country.
In the presence of then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli during his first term as PM in 2015, former Minister for Communication and Information Technology Sher Dhan Rai and President Bidya Devi Bhandari had formally launched the use of DS for the first time in Nepal on December 2, 2015.

A week ago, newly transferred secretary Dr. Baikuntha Aryal at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT) in a press conference said that DS, which once was a priority for the government, has been left unused and neglected for years.

Anil Kumar Dutta, Controller for the Office of Controller of Certification (OCC), under the MoCIT, said the use of DS wouldn’t come into wide use in the government offices because it was still not mandatory.
However, the MoCIT, under the direction of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers (OPMCM), is now preparing to make the system mandatory from this current fiscal, Dutta said.
Because of illiteracy regarding digital signature certification and its use while performing works based on digital documents and online transactions, the new system is struggling to gain foothold in the government offices, he said.

“We are now planning to bring DS in use in the government offices on phase wise basis from the federal to local levels, since infrastructures like internet and electricity have yet to reach all corners of the country,” Controller Dutta said.

Making mandatory use of DS in the government offices helps ensure confidentiality, transparency, authenticity, not to mention save in time, he said.
Biplav Man Singh, co-chairman of Nepal Certifying Company (NCC), said only a few government offices have opted for DS, despite getting legal authentication from the government itself as per the Electronic Transaction Act-2006.

The NCC is the only government-authorised private company issuing encrypted DS and its registration to people and institutions on demand or need.
Every individual, private firm, company, bank or financial institution can have its DS after filling in designated forms, he said.

Singh said so far some big institutions like Nepal Police, Nepal Rastra Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Employees Provident Fund, Department of Information Technology, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Standard Chartered Bank, Global IME Bank, Century Bank, Bank of Kathmandu and Kantipur City College, had been using DS in their digital transaction in important documents, emails and other financial matters.
Satish Subedi, a computer engineer at OCC, said a DS is a special government-certified identification code which is used to authenticate digital information such as documents, e-mail messages by the sender or the signatory and ensures that the document is genuine.

Subedi said each data of DS gets safely stored in the government integrated data centre (GIDC) under the National Information Technology by developing necessary information technology and infrastructure at Singa Durbar. GIDC’s Disaster Recovery Centre is also set up in Hetauda in case of any disaster.
Individuals/institutions can use it for any purpose while issuing National ID, driving license, passports, PIS, e-payment, internet mobile banking, e-procurement, e-commerce and e-governance or any other online transaction.

When the use of DS is made mandatory in the government offices, this will help deliver fast and efficient service to the service seekers, as well as maintain transparency of the action performed. “This will also end the problem of standing in a long line waiting for the official’s manual handwritten signature. It also helps to streamline the process of managing official documents by making them paperless,” said engineer Subedi.