Madras High Court
M/S.Ascend Telecom ... vs The Superintendent Of Police on 12 January, 2022
W.P.No.457 of 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 12.01.2022
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.NIRMAL KUMAR
W.P.No.457 of 2022 and
W.M.P.No.508 of 2022
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,
Mayiladuthurai District.
2.The Inspector of Police,
Kuthalam Police Station,
Mayiladuthurai. ... Respondents
PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India,
to issue a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus,
directing the respondents to provide adequate 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 namely
Site ID No.0012417, property being portion of the land 1200 Sq.Ft out of
523 Sq.Mtr situated at Old Survey No.125, New Survey No.744/6, Patta
No.1610, Kuthalam Taluk in the boundary of Kuthalam municipality before
Umampalapuram now it is Kuthalam Revenue Village, Kaliyamman Kovil
Street, situated within the Registration District of Mayiladuthurai, Sub
Registration District of Kuthalam.
Page No.1 of 6
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W.P.No.457 of 2022
For Petitioner : Mr.A.M.Venkatakrishnan
For Respondents : Mr.R.Vinothraja,
Government Advocate (Crl. Side)
*****
ORDER
This Writ Petition has been filed to direct the respondents to
provide adequate 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 namely Site ID.No.0012417, property
being portion of the land 1200 Sq.Ft out of 523 Sq.Mtr, situated at Old
Survey No.125, New Survey No.744/6, Patta No.1610, Kuthalam Taluk in
the boundary of Kuthalam municipality before Umampalapuram, now it is
Kuthalam Revenue Village, Kaliyamman Kovil Street, situated within the
Registration District of Mayiladuthurai, Sub Registration District of
Kuthalam.
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
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W.P.No.457 of 2022
agreement 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 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 neighbors 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 18.12.2021, 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 about the
the order passed by this Court in the case of “M/s.Reliance Jio Infocomm
Limited Versus the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Thiruvallur District
in Crl.O.P.No.16618 of 2018, dated 28.06.2018.”
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W.P.No.457 of 2022
5.It will be appropriate to extract the relevant portion of the order in
Crl.O.P.No.16618 of 2018 and the same is as follows:-
“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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W.P.No.457 of 2022
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 2nd
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.
M.NIRMAL KUMAR, J.
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W.P.No.457 of 2022
vv2
8.This writ petition is disposed of with the above direction.
Consequently, the connected Miscellaneous Petition is closed. No costs.
12.01.2022
vv2
Index : Yes/No
Internet: Yes/No
To
1.The Superintendent of Police,
Mayiladuthurai District.
2.The Inspector of Police,
Kuthalam Police Station,
Mayiladuthurai.
3.The Public Prosecutor,
High Court, Madras.
W.P.No.457 of 2022
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis
