Madras High Court
M/S.Ascend Telecom ... vs The Superintendent Of Police on 5 July, 2023
Writ Petition No.2193 of 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 05.07.2023
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE N.ANAND VENKATESH
Writ Petition No.2193 of 2022
and
W.M.P.No.2362 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
Vs
1.The Superintendent of Police,
Thiruvarur District.
2.The Inspector of Police,
Taluka Police Station,
Thiruvarur. ... Respondents
PRAYER : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India
to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing 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.0012343, property being portion of the land
1200 sq.ft. out of 2024 sq.ft. situated at Survey No.22/1B2, Patta No.2312,
1/6
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Writ Petition No.2193 of 2022
belonging to the Thiruvarur Panchayat Union in the boundary of Tandalai
Panchayat, Thiruvarur District, Thiruvarur Taluk, Tandalai Zone,
Thiyanapuram Village, situated within the registration district of
Nagapattinam, Sub-Registration district of Thiruvarur.
For Petitioner : Mr.A.M.Venkata Krishnan
For Respondents : Mr.A.Damodaran
Additional Public Prosecutor
*****
ORDER
This writ petition has been filed for a direction to 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.0012343, property
being portion of the land 1200 sq.ft. out of 2024 sq.ft. situated at Survey
No.22/1B2, Patta No.2312, belonging to the Thiruvarur Panchayat Union in
the boundary of Tandalai Panchayat, Thiruvarur District, Thiruvarur Taluk,
Tandalai Zone, Thiyanapuram Village, situated within the registration
district of Nagapattinam, Sub-Registration district of Thiruvarur.
2. The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner is engaged in the
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Writ Petition No.2193 of 2022
business of providing telecom services viz., broadband Internet services and
other allied services. For the said purpose, cell phone towers are going to be
erected. The petitioner had also entered into a lease 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, the
residents of the area came to the spot and started causing hindrance to the
company officials from carrying out the construction work. The petitioner
also gave a representation dated 06.01.2022 to the second respondent Police
to provide them with protection. However, the second respondent Police had
not acted upon the said complaint and therefore, the present petition has
been filed.
4. Learned counsel appearing for 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
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Writ Petition No.2193 of 2022
passed by this Court in Crl.O.P.No.16618 of 2018.
5. It will be appropriate to extract the relevant portions of the order in
Crl.O.P.No.16618 of 2018 and the same 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 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.
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Writ Petition No.2193 of 2022
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
second respondent police to provide police protection to the petitioner for
erection of the cell phone tower. The second respondent police shall ensure
that the entire process goes on in a smooth manner, without giving raise to
any law and order problem and the petitioner shall pay a cost of Rs.10,000/-
(Rupees Ten thousand only) to the respondent police towards police
protection.
N.ANAND VENKATESH, J
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Writ Petition No.2193 of 2022
gm
The Writ Petition is disposed of with the above direction. No Costs.
Consequently, connected miscellaneous petition is closed.
05.07.2023
Index : Yes/No
Speaking order:Yes/No
Neutral citation:Yes/No
gm
To
1.The Superintendent of Police,
Thiruvarur District.
2.The Inspector of Police,
Taluka Police Station,
Thiruvarur.
3.The Public Prosecutor,
High Court, Madras.
Writ Petition No.2193 of 2022
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis
