Admissibility Of Digital Financial Ledgers: Navigating Electronic Evidence Standards Under Section 61 Of The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023
Rishav Tater, JIS University, West Bengal
ABSTRACT
The transition of corporate financial documentation from physical ledger books to cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems has fundamentally altered the landscape of corporate litigation. With the enactment of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023, which replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 with effect from July 1, 2024, the Indian legislature has redefined the evidentiary threshold for digital records. This article critically analyses the admissibility of digital financial ledgers under Section 61 of the BSA, read conjunctively with the stringent certification mandate of Section 63. By examining the legislative introduction of hash values and the dual-signature requirement — involving both the person in charge of the device and a technical expert — this paper explores the practical friction these rules create for decentralized, multi-user accounting software such as Tally and for cloud- hosted databases more broadly. It further evaluates the intersection of the BSA's electronic evidence standards with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs' mandate for a non-tamper able audit trail under the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014. Ultimately, the article argues that while the BSA seeks to safeguard the forensic integrity of electronic records in white-collar and insolvency litigation, it places an unprecedented procedural burden on corporate governance and statutory compliance structures — one that litigants and resolution professionals alike must anticipate long before a dispute reaches the courtroom.
