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60. In view of the above, the decision of the Madras High Court in K. Ramajyam (supra), which states that evidence aliunde can be given through a person who was in-charge of a computer device in the place of  the requisite certificate under Section 65B(4) of the Evidence Act is also an incorrect statement of the law and is, accordingly, overruled.

61. While on the subject, it is relevant to note that the Department of Telecommunication’s license conditions [i.e. under the ‘License for Provision of Unified Access Services’ framed in 2007, as also the subsequent ‘License Agreement for Unified License’ and the ‘License Agreement for provision of internet service’] generally oblige internet service providers and providers of mobile telephony to preserve and maintain electronic call records and records of logs of internet users for a limited duration of one year7. Therefore, if the police or other individuals (interested, or party to any form of litigation) fail to secure those records - or secure the records but fail to secure the certificate - within that period, the production of a post-dated certificate (i.e. one issued after commencement of the trial) would in all probability render the data unverifiable. This places the accused in a perilous position, as, in the event 7 See, Clause 41.17 of the ‘License Agreement for Provision of Unified Access Services’: “The LICENSEE shall maintain all commercial records with regard to the communications exchanged on the network. Such records shall be archived for at least one year for scrutiny by the Licensor for security reasons and may be destroyed thereafter unless directed otherwise by the licensor”; Clause 39.20 of the ‘License Agreement for Unified License’: “The Licensee shall maintain all commercial records/ Call Detail Record (CDR)/ Exchange Detail Record (EDR)/ IP Detail Record (IPDR) with regard to the 39 communications exchanged on the network. Such records shall be archived for at least one year for scrutiny by the Licensor for security reasons and may be destroyed thereafter unless directed otherwise by the Licensor. Licensor may issue directions /instructions from time to time with respect to CDR/IPDR/EDR.”  the accused wishes to challenge the genuineness of this certificate by seeking the opinion of the Examiner of Electronic Evidence under Section 45A of the Evidence Act, the electronic record (i.e. the data as to call logs in the computer of the service provider) may be missing.