Madras High Court
M/S.Ascend Telecom ... vs The Superintendent Of Police on 3 September, 2021
Crl.O.P.No.15519 of 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 03.09.2021
CORAM:
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE M.NIRMAL KUMAR
Crl.O.P.No.15519 of 2021
M/s.Ascend Telecom Infrastructure
Private Limited,
Represented by its Authorized Signatory,
Mr. Tamilselvan,
Old No.32, New No.54,
Butt Road, St. Thomas Mount,
Near Kathipara Junction,
Chennai – 600 016. ... Petitioner
Versus
1. The Superintendent of Police,
Municipality campus,
Muthukadai, Ranipet – 632 401
2. The Inspector of Police,
Town Police Station,
Ranipet District. ... Respondents
PRAYER: The Criminal Original Petition has been filed under Section
482 Cr.P.C to direct the respondents to provide police protection to the
petitioner company and its staff and subordinates to erect, commissioning
of equipments and to radiate the transmission tower at the lease site
situated at Arakkonam, Gandhi Nagar, Rathinam Street, New Block 13,
Old Block 2, Arakkonam Town, Arakkonam Taluk, Arakkonam
Registration District, Vellore Revenue District measuring to an extent of
2400 sq.ft.
Page No.1 of 7
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/
Crl.O.P.No.15519 of 2021
For Petitioner : Mr.A.M.Venkata Krishnan
For Respondents : Mr.A.Damodaran,
Gov. Advocate (Crl.Side)
ORDER
This criminal original petition has been filed to direct the
respondents to provide police protection to the petitioner company and
its staff and subordinates to erect, commissioning of equipments and to
radiate the transmission tower at the lease site situated at Arakkonam,
Gandhi Nagar, Rathinam Street, New Block 13, Old Block 2, Arakkonam
Town, Arakkonam Taluk, Arakkonam Registration District, Vellore
Revenue District measuring to an extent of 2400 sq.ft.
2.The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner is engaged in the
business of Operation and Maintenance of Mobile phone towers across
India for all the mobile phone operators/service providers providing
broadband Internet services and other allied services. For the said
purpose, cell phone tower is going to be erected. The petitioner had also
entered into a lease agreement with the owner of the property and had
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/
Crl.O.P.No.15519 of 2021
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 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
2nd respondent on 15.09.2020, seeking police protection. However, the
2nd 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.
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Crl.O.P.No.15519 of 2021
5.It will be appropriate to extract the relevant portions of the 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.
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Crl.O.P.No.15519 of 2021
3.Heard the learned Additional Public
Prosecutor appearing for the respondent.
4.Considering the facts and circumstances of the
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.
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Crl.O.P.No.15519 of 2021
7.For the reasons stated above, there shall be a direction to the 2 nd
respondent police to provide police protection to the petitioner for
erection of the cell phone tower. The 2nd respondent police shall ensure
that the entire process goes on in a smooth manner, without giving raise
to any law and order problem.
8. This criminal original petition is disposed of with the above
direction.
03.09.2021
Index: Yes/No
Internet: Yes/No
sms
To
1. The Superintendent of Police,
Municipality campus,
Muthukadai, Ranipet – 632 401
2. The Inspector of Police,
Town Police Station,
Ranipet District.
3. The Public Prosecutor,
High Court, Madras.
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/
Crl.O.P.No.15519 of 2021
M.NIRMAL KUMAR, J.
sms
Crl.O.P.No.15519 of 2021
03.09.2021
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/
