Apex court to hear plea against pre-paid mobile ban in Kashmir

Thu, Nov 5 07:14 PM

New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday refused to give urgent hearing to a plea for scrapping the ban on pre-paid mobile connections in Jammu and Kashmir, imposed by the central government apprehending the possibility of its misuse by terrorists.

The plea was made by Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers' Party chief Bhim Singh, who appeared before a bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and apprised it of his lawsuit filed in the apex court's registry.

The bench, which also included Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice P. Sathasivam, declined an urgent hearing, telling Singh to wait till Nov 16 - when the matter has been listed for hearing.

Through his lawsuit, Singh demanded scrapping of the union home ministry's Oct 30 order, which halted pre-paid mobile telephony service in Jammu and Kashmir.

He challenged the home ministry's order contending that 'it has been issued on imaginary assumptions that pre-paid mobile SIM cards are being issued to the terrorists without proper and adequate verification'.

He said that failure, if any, in making proper verification is rather an administrative lapse for which the people must not be penalized and inconvenienced.

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