Relief for cellcos,but panel will study impact of towers

Justice Kailash Gambhir also directed the Union Ministry of Communications and IT and the MCD Commissioner “to constitute a broad-based committee of technical and medical experts,who can examine various studies and the technology and policy adopted by the developed countries in regulating the installation of cellular towers and antennas” and submit a report within three months.

The Cellular Operators’ Association of India,along with several private mobile companies,had petitioned the court after the MCD started sealing mobile towers for not depositing the increased fee and violating other requisites. While it sealed around 300 towers till last month,the civic body had claimed that of 5,364 towers in the city’s 12 municipal zones,only 2,412 had the requisite permission. The petition also termed the increase as “unfair,unjust,arbitrary and illegal” and further contended that the hike did not commensurate with the cost of services being provided by the MCD.

Defending its decision,the MCD said that it was a one-time permission fee charged from the operators and since it was regulatory and not compensatory,there need not be a direct correlation of the fee and the services rendered by the MCD. Appearing for the MCD,Additional Solicitor General Parag P Tripathi further submitted that they had formulated the “precautionary and regulatory measure policy”after taking into account various expert reports stating that mobile phone radiations had serious effects on human health.

The operators countered this by producing a World Health Organisation (WHO) report,which read that there was no convincing scientific evidence to show that weak RF signals from its stations and wireless networks caused adverse health effects.

Justice Gambhir took a “holistic” approach and accepted the fact that cellular towers are the backbone of the cellular mobile telephony,which is “no more a luxury but a part of our very existence”. As the MCD and operators produced contradicting reports on the harmful effects of the radiation from towers,he deemed it fit to implead the Union Ministry of Communications as a party in the case.