Pre-paid mobile service ban in Jammu & Kashmir cannot be revoked: Centre

The Centre today informed the Supreme Court that its decision to impose ban on pre-paid mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir could not be revoked now due to security reasons.

"We cannot revoke the ban. It is due to the security reasons the ban on pre-paid mobile services has been imposed," solicitor general Gopal Subramanium told a bench comprising chief justice KG Balakrishnan and justice BS Chauhan.

An affidavit in this regard was placed before the bench which asked the petitioner to file its reply and posted the matter for further hearing on January 25.

The Supreme Court had on December 15 granted two weeks time to the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government to respond on a petition challenging the ban on pre-paid mobile phone services in the state.

The apex court had on November 16 issued notices to the ministries of Home and Telecom and the state government asking them to respond within two weeks about security concerns and economical issues raised in the PIL, filed by the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party.

Advocate Bhim Singh, who is the chairman of the party, had contended that the government's order to ban pre-paid cell phone services in the state from November 1 was "authoritarian and arbitrary".