VIKAS LUTHRA Vs. M.C.D. AND ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner has filed this writ petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking direction against the respondent no.1 to remove the illegal cell towers of Vodafone Essar Telecom Ltd. (Respondent no.2) and AIRCEL Telecom Ltd. (Respondent No.3) installed on the premises bearing no.FF -6, Mangal Bazar, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi -110092. As per the petitioner, respondent nos.2 & 3 have illegally installed the cell towers without taking prior permission of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (Respondent no.1) and other concerned authorities. Petitioner has alleged that cell towers release radiation in large quantity, which causes blood pressure, prostate cancer, heart problems etc., with which petitioner had been suffering. As per the petitioner he was suffering from above ailments due to the radiation emitted by the cell towers in question.

(2.) During the pendency of the writ petition, petitioner has died on 2 nd July, 2013 and his legal heirs have been brought on record vide order dated 5th December, 2013.

(3.) Respondent no.1 has filed a short affidavit stating therein that cell towers were installed with its permission. Respondent no.3 has reiterated in its counter affidavit that cell towers have been installed with the permission of the respondent no.1. It is further submitted that Radio Frequency waves of electric and magnetic energy emanating from an antenna/tower are "Non - Ionized" in nature and are not harmful, as per the scientific studies conducted by various organizations, such as, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [an independent United States Government Agency established under the Communications Act of 1934 and which is charged with the regulating the Radio Frequency radiation in the United States of America], World Health Organization and most specifically the facts sheet N0 304 published in May 2006, wherein it has been concluded that considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the RF signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects. It is further stated that RF exposures from mobile base stations are much less than from radio, FM radio and television transmissions and that the consensus of scientific community is that the radiation from mobile phone base stations is far too low to produce health hazards. Similar is the stand of the respondent no.2.