To cope with the influx of applications the organisation structure of the controller's office is being expanded with three new deputy controllers. A panel of more than a dozen auditor companies has also been short-listed to scruitinise the facilitites and infrastructure of companies who want to offer digital signature certificates.

According to industry sources the auditor-list includes global management consulting firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers, Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young, as well as leading Indian IT companies like TCS, Wipro, Tata Infotech and Mahindra BT. These auditors would be assigned the responsibility of inspecting and scrutinising the applicant's infrastructure and facilities before granting the licenses.

The first meeting of this panel has been invited by the Controller on April 10th for discussing the audit procedures for preliminary and main audits of applicant companies. The panel will also discuss the fee charged by the auditor companies for such scrutinies.

The organisation structure in the office of the Controller is also being expanded to carry out the operations of appointing certifying authorities smoothly and effectivly. The sources said that as per the new organisation structure, the Controller will be assisted by three deputy Controllers.These deputy Controllers will handle three different specialisations: Technology, Intelligence and Finance/Legal. The appointment of these new officials has begun.

Process of digital signatures certification finally kicks offThe companies applying for the licenses will have to get the audits of their infrastructure and facilities completed within four months of the date of filing the application. If they fail to do so in the stipulated time, the companies will have to file a fresh application, said a ministry official.The licensing of certification authority will be an ongoing process without any restriction of the last date of filing the applications. Moreover, there would be no restriction on the number of operators. "We do not want to keep a cap on number of operators. Let market forces decide the number of players," said a source from the Ministry.

With the current Government initiatives, the end-users in India should be able to use digital signatures in their daily activities before the end of this year. India will be one of the first few countries to have digital signature certifying authorities in place by that time, the experts said.