Exhibit 31.1


                         RULE 13a-14(a) CERTIFICATION IN
                           ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 302
                        OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Timothy C. Tuff, Chief Executive Officer of John H. Harland Company (the
"Company"), certify that:

1.                I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of the
                  Company;

2.                Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
                  statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
                  necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
                  circumstances under which such statements were made, not
                  misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.                Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
                  financial information included in this report, fairly present
                  in all material respects the financial condition, results of
                  operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for,
                  the periods presented in this report;

4.                The registrant's other certifying officer and I are
                  responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure
                  controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
                  13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial
                  reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and
                  15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

             a)   Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
                  such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
                  our supervision, to ensure that material information relating
                  to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is
                  made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
                  during the period in which this report is being prepared;

              b)  Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
                  caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
                  designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
                  assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and
                  the preparation of financial statements for external purposes
                  in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

              c)  Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                  controls and procedures and presented in this report our
                  conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
                  and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
                  report based on such evaluation; and

              d)  Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
                  internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
                  the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter that has materially
                  affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
                  registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and


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5.               The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
                 based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
                 financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit
                 committee of the registrant's board of directors:

              a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                 design or operation of internal control over financial
                 reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
                 registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report
                 financial information; and

              b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
                 other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
                 internal control over financial reporting.


Date:  March 14, 2006                     /s/ Timothy C. Tuff
                                         -----------------------
                                         Timothy C. Tuff
                                         Chairman, President and
                                         Chief Executive Officer