Are E-Signed Appointment Letters Truly Legal? Seeking Clarity and Advice from HR Peers

Hi All, I wanted to check if electronically signed appointment letters are considered legal. I recently learned that in court, an e-signed appointment letter is not considered strong evidence that the document was signed by the employee. However, I was skeptical about this as most companies nowadays collect e-signed copies of the appointment letter. Can someone advise?

What do you mean by e-sign/e-signature?

Is it a scanned signature on a document? Though the scanned signature has no legal standing, it can be considered as acceptance of employment, the terms, and conditions of employment, provided the employee has assumed office and has drawn a salary from the employment. After working for the company and collecting a salary from the company, he cannot deny that he did not accept the employment.

Thanks for your help. E-signature

E-signature refers to the electronic signatures used in documents sent via DocuSign or Adobe Sign for acceptance.

It will depend on the facts of the case. How secure and manipulable is the signature? Can it be affixed without the employee's approval later?

Validity of E-Signed Documents

The e-signed documents are valid, provided the validated documents are downloaded. The court can't call them void because all the government offices, education boards, and universities are issuing e-signed licenses and certificates. However, the court declared them invalid for certain reasons.

Legal Recognition of Electronic Signatures in India

Electronic signatures are legally recognized in India and are provided for in the Information Technology Act, 2000 ("ITA"), the Indian Contract Act of 1872 ("ICA"), and the Electronic Signature or Electronic Authentication Technique and Procedure Rules, 2015 ("ESEATPR").