New Delhi, Feb. 6 :    New Delhi, Feb. 6:  It's now official: you can sign your cheques online. The government today put its stamp of approval on digital signatures - which have been available on the Net for quite sometime but haven't had the force of legal sanction here in India - when Union communications minister Pramod Mahajan received the first digital signature certificate issued by SafeScrypt, the country's first certifying authority (CA) for digital signatures. Netizens can now carry out financial transactions in the country by signing cheques or booking orders on the strength of their digital signatures. 'SafeScrypt has ushered in an era of secure internet-based transactions to promote online transactions and e-commerce in the country. This will prove to be a vital link towards implementing the IT Act 2000, and pave the way for the growth of eCommerce, eLearning and eGovernance in India as well as the growth of IT-enabled services with the rest of the world,' Mahajan said at the ongoing Information and Communications Technology meet in Mumbai. A digital signature certificate is a secure electronic digital identity of an individual on the internet. It will enable consumers or professionals to digitally sign emails, documents, or any other electronic data. The certificates issued by a CA are legally recognised in a court of law in the country and are given the same status as that of physical signatures.