The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to apprise it within two weeks about the steps which can be taken to scrutinise the existing and future mobile users in the country.
A bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said mobile numbers are now being used for banking purposes also and "you should tell us as to what mechanism you are going to have to scrutinise the identity of mobile users".
The bench was hearing a PIL filed by NGO Lok Niti Foundation which has sought a direction to the Centre to put in place a proper mechanism to check the authenticity of information provided by mobile users.
The verification has become more important in view of the fact that mobile phones are now being used for banking purposes also.
“If people are issued SIM cards without proper verification, and mobile chips are used to withdraw money belonging to someone else, you won’t be able catch hold of that person as he would turn out to be fictitious. You must start the process of verification and tell us how quickly you can do it,” said the Supreme Court bench.
The bench also asked the Centre to keep the court informed of the steps taken to verify the identity of around five crore mobile users, PTI reported.
