In the city of Bengaluru, Prabhu, a supplier, sent an email quotation of Meera, offering to sell goods at a discounted price. Meera's system automatically sent an email showing acceptance of the offer due to a technical

The 2008 amendment to the Information Technology Act, 2000 introduced Sec 10A, which provides for a greater acceptance to the electronic contract, establishing without question its validity in the eyes of the law. Since, in an electronic record, the maker remains behind the curtain, it was considered desirable to make a provision for "attribution" of the record. An electronic record is attributed to the "originator". [Defined in Section 2(1) (za)]. Broadly, the "originator" is the person at whose instance it was sent in the following cases - if it was sent by the originator himself; or if it was sent by a person authorised to act on behalf of the originator in respect of that electronic record; or if it was sent by an information system programmed by or on behalf of the originator to operate automatically. (Section 11) Regarding acknowledgement of receipt of electronic records, the Act provides that where there is no agreement that the acknowledgment be given in a particular form etc. then the acknowledgement may be given by: any communication by the addressee (automated or otherwise); or any conduct of the addressee which is sufficient to indicate to the originator that the electronic record has been received. [Section 12(1)] Subject to agreement between the parties, the dispatch of an electronic record occurs, when it enters a "computer resource" outside the control of the originator. [Section 13 (1)] In this case, Prabhu sent an email quotation to Meera offering to sell goods at a discounted price. Meera's system automatically sent an email showing acceptance of the offer due to a technical glitch, even though she did not intend to accept it. Prabhu, relied on the email, dispatched the goods which Meera refused to accept claiming that she did not send the acceptance personally and the email was sent due to an automated system error. As per the provisions mentioned above, the communication originated from an information system programmed by or on behalf of Meera to operate automatically. So, this acceptance of offer can be said to be valid and attributable to Meera and the dispatch occurs when it enters a "computer resource" outside her control.