Srinagar, Dec 15 : The Supreme Court has awarded two weeks time to the Central government and the Jammu and Kashmir government to file their reactions on the ban imposed on pre-paid mobiles in the state.

The case will be taken up for hearing on January 8. The apex court has issued notices, following a petition challenging Centre''s decision on the ban.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had issued guidelines that no new pre-paid mobile connection would be issued in the state and the accessible pre-paid SIM cards should not be issued after November 1 in the state.

The initiative taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs had affected nearly 38 lakhs pre-paid mobile users in the state.

The decision has been taken on account of reports that proper verification is not done by the service providers/vendors, while providing such pre-paid mobile connections to the users.

A single person used to have multiple connections registered in his name in a few cases. (ANI)