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There is no scientific data available to show that installation of mobile phone tower and emission of waves by the said tower is in anyway harmful for the health or hazardous to the health of citizens. There is no conclusive data to the said effect. These studies have been conducted under the aegis of WHO. The studies have concluded that there is no conclusive scientific evidence of adverse health effects due to low level of RF emission from mobile phone towers and the same was upheld by High Court of Delhi through the learned bench led by Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva in the case of INDUS TOWERS LTD. vs. NORTH DELHI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION [W.P.(C) 11831/2021] on 23.02.2022.

The facts of the case are that work stop notice was issued on the petitioner requiring him to stop further work of installation of a telecommunication tower on property based in New Delhi. The required permission for the installation work was granted to the plaintiff and petitioner had complied with all the requisite formalities and obtained permissions for installation of the said tower.

Perusal of the complaints the only objection taken was that the installation of a tower in the colony is harmful and may cause great harm to children, old people and pregnant women. Therefore, the petitioner impugns the said order requiring him to stop further work of installation of a telecommunication tower on the property through the present petition.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the permission for installation of a telecommunication tower was duly granted after petitioner had complied with all the requisite formalities and obtained permissions for installation of the said tower. The permission to commence the installation process was allowed only after receipt of all requisite documents from the petitioner and on completion of all the formalities.

In view of the above, the court held that there is no scientific data available to show that installation of mobile phone towers and the emission of the waves by the said towers is in any way harmful for the health or hazardous to the health of citizens. There is no conclusive data to the said effect. The respondent has not been able to produce any data whatsoever showing any such harmful effects on the health of human beings. Therefore, the work stop notice issued by the respondent Corporation solely on the ground of the above referred complaints received from residents is not sustainable.

The Court observed that, “There is no scientific data available to show that installation of mobile phone tower and emission of waves by the said tower is in anyway harmful for the health or hazardous to the health of citizens. There is no conclusive data to the said effect. These studies have been conducted under the aegis of WHO. The studies have concluded that there is no conclusive scientific evidence of adverse health effects due to low level of RF emission from mobile phone towers.”

Click here to read the Judgment

Judgment reviewed by – Shristi Suman