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| SC notice on pre-paid Cell phone ban in J&K | | |
Early Times
New Delhi, Nov. 16: The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir Government on a petition moved by Mr Bhim Singh, chief of J&K National Panthers Party, challenging the ban on pre-paid mobile connection throughout the trouble border State. Those who have been sent notices on Monday by the apex court are the Union Home and Communication Ministries and the J&K government.
The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam, turned down the petitioner’s plea to stay the Centre’s order banning all pre-paid connections all over the State. The court, however, issued notices to the respondents on the plea for the stay of the ban orders. The notice is to be replied in two weeks’ time from the date of issue.
Pleading in person, Mr Bhim Singh, who is also an advocate, said that instead of banning the pre-paid connections in the sensitive border State, verification procedure followed in the case of post-paid connections should have been made mandatory vis-à-vis pre-paid connections as well.
The Panthers Party Chief moved a separate affidavit saying that the ban orders have robbed thousands of people of their livelihood. Earlier, they sold SIM cards for pre-paid connections as retailers and thereby were able to make the ends meet for themselves as also their kith and kin. The affidavit made the claim that mobile phone service providers in the State have earned Rs 195 crores in just few days after ban came into force on November 1. This could be possible through collecting advance securities and replacing the pre-paid connections with post paid connections.
Mr Singh submitted that a leading mobile telephone service provider is going to make Rs 95 crores from his company’s nearly 19 lakh subscribers. The affidavit filed by him also says that about 25,000 Special Police Officers and village defence committee members often operating from far flung jungles and remote areas now face a disconnect even from their operational headquarters because of the ban on pre-paid mobile telephony.
Mr Bhim Singh claimed that the near absence of communication for the common man brought by the ban on pre-paid mobile telephone service could lead to more harm than good. The ban affecting about 38 lakh pre-paid mobile phone subscribers may also not help to ward off militancy. Instead, this could end up in a catastrophic situation in case of a militant attack.
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