Witness requirement

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Kumar (Querist)
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28 May 2010 Please explain me the requiremets of witnessing an agreement. Can a person having blood relation with other person, witness on other person's documets. Again an employee of a broker who has done "IN PERSON VERIFICATION" of the client, can withess on behalf of the client.

CA Debasish Banerjee

CA Debasish Banerjee (Expert)
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28 May 2010 Why Witness.. is to certify and state that the signature was done in his presence by the person mentioned in the agreement..an authenticity of the person signing

Any person eligible to enter into an agreement can witness. Blood relation or no blood relation is of no importance.

No one can witness for someone .. you can not delegate the power to witness .. witness has to be by the person ownself .. and can be for anyone ..

CMA. CS. Sanjay Gupta

CMA. CS. Sanjay Gupta (Expert)
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28 May 2010 AGREE WITH MR. DEBASISH

CA. BIJENDER KR. BANSAL

CA. BIJENDER KR. BANSAL (Expert)
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28 May 2010 AGREED

Kumar

Kumar (Querist)
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28 May 2010 Yes this query came to my mind as once while transfering the shares of my dad i had witnessed on behalf of my father and the share transfer agent refused to aknowledge the witness.

Again INPERSON VERIFICATION is done to check the authencity of the client and to safeguard the interest of the broker and the exchange.

Now if the person doing IPV is the witness then whom the broker will ask for in case of default/fraud by the client.

Aashok Kumar Sharma

Aashok Kumar Sharma (Expert)
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03 August 2025 Here's a detailed explanation based on the points you shared:

Witnessing an Agreement:
Purpose of Witnessing:

A witness’s primary role is to attest that the signature on the document was indeed made by the person whose signature it is, and that it was done in the presence of the witness. This helps in authenticating the document and can help resolve disputes later.

Who can be a Witness?

There is no legal bar on a witness being a blood relative or not. The law generally does not prohibit relatives from acting as witnesses.

The key is that the witness must have seen the signatory sign the document.

Can a Person Witness on Behalf of Another?

The term "witnessing" means physically observing the signing by the person.

One cannot delegate the witnessing function. The witness must personally witness the signing.

You cannot "witness on behalf of someone else" in the sense of signing a document that someone else should have signed or witnessed.

Regarding Employees of Brokers doing “In-Person Verification” (IPV):

IPV’s objective is to verify the identity of the client to protect the broker and the exchange from fraud.

If the IPV is done by an employee of the broker, that employee should not act as a witness for the client’s signature.

The reason is that the witness should be an independent person who can attest impartially. If the IPV employee is also a witness, it may create conflict in case of any disputes or fraud.

It is advisable that the witness be someone independent of the transaction or relationship, so that the witness can be relied upon in case of default or dispute.

Practical Experience:

There are cases where share transfer agents or other authorities refuse to accept a witness signature if the witness is a relative or otherwise questionable, though legally relatives can be witnesses.

However, some institutions or intermediaries might have their own internal policies about who can act as a witness.

Summary:
Question Answer
Can a blood relative be a witness? Legally yes, but some institutions may have internal policies.
Can one witness “on behalf of” another person? No, witnessing means seeing the actual signing by that person.
Can IPV employee be a witness? Not recommended due to potential conflict of interest.
Purpose of witness? To authenticate that the document was signed in presence of witness.

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