I.S.ISRANI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SINCE common questions of law and facts are involved in all these writ petitions, they were heard together and are being decided by common order. The said writ petition has been filed in the public interest by the petitioners -Justice I.S.Israni (Retd.) and Smt.Nirmala Singh praying for the relief that the Central Government as well as the State Government and their instrumentalities be directed to formulate regulatory body in relation to emission of radio frequency and electro magnetic radiations emitted by or likely to be emitted by mobile towers and for monitoring emission from these towers; prayer has also been made to stop the respondents from increasing capacity and further, no license to operate towers in the residential areas should be granted to the respondents -companies at the risk of health and life of people; prayer has also been made to direct the respondents to remove the towers from the hospitals, schools and residential areas so as to minimize the environmental and noise pollution. The said writ petition has been filed by the petitioner -Pearl Green Acres Owners Welfare & Maintenance Society with the prayer to direct the respondent no.7 - M/s A.T.C. Limited not to raise construction or erect the mobile tower on the land khasra no.168, Mangyabas, Tehsil Sanganer, Mahesh Nagar, Jaipur; prayer has also been made that respondents -authorities be directed not to issue any license in favour of respondent no.7 for erecting mobile tower and operation and installation of Base Station Antennas in the residential area should not be granted.

(2.) IN the said writ petition filed by Cellular Operators Association of India and ors., prayer has been made for quashment of impugned Bye -laws made by the State Government and the order dated 31.8.2012 including Bye -laws framed/to be framed by any of the respondents -Municipalities in compliance of the order dated 31.8.2012 issued to various municipalities/local authorities to implement the Bye -laws prohibiting the erection of mobile towers on the hospitals, school buildings, play grounds and within range of 500 meters from jail premises; prayer has also been made for quashment of communication dated 4.7.2012 issued by the respondent no.2 Dy.Director (Secondary), Secondary Education, Rajasthan Bikaner; prayer has also been made to quash the communication dated 13.9.2012 issued by the State of Rajasthan, Local Self Department; prayer has also been made to restrain the respondents no.1 and 2 from removing or hampering the working of mobile towers/antennas installed by the petitioners in the State of Rajasthan. In the said writ petition filed by the petitioners -Association of Unified Telecom Services Providers of India & ors., prayer has been made to quash the Bye -laws framed by the State Government on 31.8.2012; similar prayers have been made as made in Writ Petition No.17867/2012 filed by Cellular Operators Association of India and ors. It was clearly stated by Mr.Gopal Subramanyam, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of Cellular Operators Association of India that though the writ petitions have been filed for quashment of Bye -laws made by the State Government, but the main petition is PIL Petition No.2774/2012 in which all questions are involved. In the public interest litigation No.2774/2012 which has been preferred by the petitioners -Justice I.S.Israni (Retd.) and Smt.Nirmala Singh, it is submitted that the Central Government as well as the State Government are bound to observe social welfare laws in view of the provisions contained in Article 21 of the Constitution which assures the right to live with human dignity, free from exploitation and health hazard.

(3.) IT is further averred that mobile phone operators divide a region in large number of cells and each cell is divided into number of sectors; the base stations are normally configured to transmit different signals into each of these sectors; majority of towers are mounted near the residential and office buildings to provide good mobile phone coverage to the users; these towers emit radiation 24x7 so people living within 10 meters of towers will receive ten thousand to one crore times stronger signal than required for mobile communication; crores of people reside within these high radiation zones; mobile companies operate GSM network in all parts of the countries providing 2G or 3 G services depending upon the country of operation; for installing mobile towers, no permission has been sought from any authority and they have been installed in contravention of the law in the house adjoining to plot no.J.54 Prithviraj Road, Jaipur and in the house adjoining to plot no.A -319 Govind Marg, Prince Road, Vidhyut Nagar (West) Ajmer Road, Jaipur; the said towers are the source of harmful and hazardous radiations and becoming a concern for the health and safety of all the residents of the locality; petitioners have filed complaint and also sent notice on 28th November, 2010, but no action has been taken on it; there is imminent danger by emission of harmful radiations; they may cause injury to health and life of people.