Madras High Court

Indus Tower Limited vs The Superintendent Of Police on 9 April, 2021

                                                          1         W.P.No.8948 of 2021

                               IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

                                               Dated : 09.04.2021

                                                      CORAM


                               THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.NIRMAL KUMAR

                                              W.P.No.8948 of 2021

                      Indus Tower Limited,
                      Rep. by its Authorized Signatory,
                      Mr.S.Prasanna,
                      No.5, ESPEE IT Park,
                      5th Floor, Jawaharlal Nehru Raod,
                      Ekkatuthangal, Chennai-600 097.               .. Petitioner

                                                         Vs.

                      1. The Superintendent of Police,
                         Ranipet District.

                      2. The Deputy Superintendent of Police,
                         Ranipet Division, Ranipet District.

                      3. The Inspector of Police,
                         Arcot Police Station, Ranipet District.

                      4. The District Collector,
                         Ranipet District.

                      5. The Tahsildar,
                         Walajapet Taluk, Ranipet District.

                      6. The Block Development Officer,


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                                                         2                 W.P.No.8948 of 2021

                          Walajapet, Ranipet District.                 .. Respondents

                      Prayer : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of
                      India praying to issue Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents 1
                      to 3 to provide necessary police protection to the petitioner for
                      their mobile phone tower works at the premises being about 1200
                      Sq.Ft. of land at S.F.No.320/43, Hajipet 1st Street, Melvisharam,
                      Ranipet District, on the representation dated 09.03.2021 to the 3rd
                      respondent     under   online   reference   No.HER21035912        dated
                      09.03.2021, and direct the respondents 4 to 6 to render necessary
                      co-operation to the respondents 1 to 3 in the matter.CSR No.206 of
                      2021 and direct the respondents 4 to 6 to render necessary co-
                      operation to the respondents 1 to 3 in the matter.
                            For Petitioner               : Mr.S.Anil Sandeep

                            For Respondents              : Mr.M.Mohamed Riyaz
                                                           Additional Public Prosecutor

                                                      ORDER

This petition has been filed for the issue of a writ of

mandamus, directing the respondents 1 to 3 to provide necessary

police protection to the petitioner for their mobile phone tower

works at the premises being about 1200 Sq.Ft. of land at

S.F.No.320/43, Hajipet 1st Street, Melvisharam, Ranipet District, on

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the representation dated 09.03.2021 to the 3rd respondent under

online reference No.HER21035912 dated 09.03.2021, and direct the

respondents 4 to 6 to render necessary co-operation to the

respondents 1 to 3 in the matter.CSR No.206 of 2021 and direct the

respondents 4 to 6 to render necessary co-operation to the

respondents 1 to 3 in the matter.

2.The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner is engaged

in the business of establishing and maintaining telecommunication

infrastructure/assets such as fibers, right of way, duct space, towers

etc. in Tamil Nadu and other parts of India, for the purposes of

granting the same on lease/rent/sale basis to licensed telecom

service operators in India. For the said purpose, cell phone tower is

going to be erected. The petitioner had also entered into a lease

agreement dated 17.11.2020 with the owner of the property and

had taken steps to install the cell phone tower. Already, the

Government of Tamil Nadu has granted exemption to all the

Telecom companies to install the cell phone towers by virtue of

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Government Order passed in G.O.Ms.No.2, dated 01.04.2002.

3.When the petitioner attempted to erect the cell phone

tower, some people with vested interest claiming to be neighbours

have been causing hindrance and preventing the workers from

carrying out the construction work. In this regard, the petitioner

gave a complaint to the 3rd respondent on 09.03.2021, seeking

police protection. However, the 3rd respondent had not acted

upon the said complaint and therefore, the present Petition has

been filed.

4.The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would

submit that the issue involved in this petition is covered by the

earlier Judgments of this Court. The learned counsel brought to the

notice of this Court the order passed by this Court in

Crl.O.P.No.16618 of 2018 dt.28.06.2018.

5.It will be appropriate to extract the relevant portions of the

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order in Crl.O.P.No.16618 of 2018, which is extracted hereunder:-

“2.The learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that the petitioner's company had the contract agreement for installation of cell phone tower with M/s.Indus Towers Limited, a company registered under the provisions of Indian Companies Act, 1956. It is further submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that whenever the petitioner's company attempted to erect transmission cell phone tower, publics are causing interference. The learned counsel for the petitioner also submitted that by order dated 05.03.2015, the Honourable First Bench of this Court, in W.P.Nos.24976 of 2008 and etc., batch, held that because of the advancement in the science, no one has prevented to erect cell phone towers. It is also submitted that the petitioner has given a complaint dated 24.02.2016 to the first respondent police seeking police protection, for which C.S.R.No.42 of 2016 and since the same has not been considered so far, he has come up with the present petition for the relief stated supra.

3.Heard the learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondent.

4.Considering the facts and circumstances of the

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case, the petitioner is directed to send a fresh representation to the respondent and on receipt of the same, the respondent is directed to consider the representation to be submitted by the petitioner and pass appropriate orders on merits and in accordance with law, within a period of one week from the date of receipt of copy of this order.

5.With the above directions, this Criminal Original Petition is disposed of.”

6.This Court has consistently taken the view that no one can

be prevented from erecting the cell phone towers on a mere

apprehension about the effect of radiation from the cell phone

tower. The apprehension does not have a scientific backing. Till a

positive finding is given in this regard, cell phone towers cannot be

prevented to be installed on mere apprehensions.

7.For the reasons stated above, there shall be a direction to

the third respondent police to provide police protection to the

petitioner for erection of the cell phone tower. The third

respondent police shall ensure that the entire process goes on in a

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