In an interim relief to the cellular operators providing telecom service in the capital, the Delhi high court on Thursday restrained the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) from sealing illegal mobile phone towers till further orders. Meanwhile, the MCD said that it will contest the Delhi high court’s stay order and claimed that it
had a strong case.
Appearing before the court of Justice Kailash Gambhir, the MCD officials informed that they will stop the sealing drive till Monday against the illegal mobile towers erected in Delhi. The sealing drive was launched on Wednesday.
The court issued notice to the MCD asking it to explain by May 19 the reasons behind bringing in a new policy on regulating mobile phone towers.
Directing the MCD and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to amicably resolve their differences, the court said, “It is a pubic interest matter and should be resolved immediately.”
The civic agency submitted before the court that it had started the sealing of illegal mobile phone towers from Wednesday after the deadline for the operators to apply for regularisation expired last week.
The MCD officials earlier had said that out of 5,364 towers in the capital, only 2,412 have requisite permission and the remaining 2,952 were illegal.
The COAI moved the Delhi high court alleging that the sealing drive launched by the MCD was illegal.
Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the COAI, submitted before the court that hiking licence fee from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakhs is arbitrary. The MCD did not have any power to seal the towers and it is an illegal move.
The MCD counsel, Maninder Acharya, said that keeping in mind the health of the people, the civic agency started the drive, as radiation from the illegal towers was bad for public health.
Meanwhile, Delhi mayor P.R. Sawhney said that the civic agency would contest the stay order.
He added that the MCD was on a firm footing as half of the city's cellular phone towers have been erected illegally. The corporation had the right to take action against anybody who was violating the norms.
The move of the MCD to seal the illegal towers came after it gave several deadlines to the telecom operators to apply for regularisation of the illegal towers in keeping with the new guidelines unveiled by it, but the cellular operators failed to comply with these new guidelines.