Digital Locker Authority soon to push paperless governance

The Centre will soon appoint an authority to administer and manage its Digital Locker initiative, one of the key projects under Digital India programme, as it looks to push paperless governance.

“The Government will appoint a Digital Locker Authority to establish, administer, and manage Digital Locker system to preserve and retain information for efficient delivery of services to the users,” according to an IT ministry official.

The official added that it has been proposed that Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) may take up the role of the Authority for regulation purposes, while Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) may be made responsible for drafting and maintenance of specifications and audits.

This was suggested in the first meeting of the Digital Locker Advisory Group held last month. It was also suggested that both the tasks can be assigned to CCA.

Service charges

The authority, the official said, will also need to notify the fee or service charges a subscriber will have to pay for availing Digital Locker services from authorized service providers.

Currently, the services are offered for free.