Delhi
High Court on 26/04/2016 has 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.
The Court was hearing a
Public Interest litigation seeking a writ of mandamus directing the respondents
to remove the mobile towers installed in the residential area of village
Tekhand, New Delhi with immediate effect.
Union of India has
filed its counter affidavit pointing out that the contentions of the
petitioners about there being any radiation or any emissions which are harmful
to the health of the citizens are baseless. It is urged that many studies have
been conducted on the health hazard of radiations of mobile phone
towers/networks. 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.
It was also pointed out
to the Court the Judgment of Kerala High Court in the case of Reliance
INFOCOM Ltd. vs. Chemanchery Grama Panchayat & Ors., 2006. That
was a case in which the mobile phone company was seeking to erect a mobile base
station. The plan was approved by the Panchayat and the petitioner was issued a
building permit. However, when the petitioner started preparation for
constructing the tower, certain segments of the local population raised
objections. The Panchayat acting on complaints received from the local
residents cancelled the permit issued to the petitioner apprehending that apart
from pollution, the radiation from the tower would cause a health hazard. The
Kerala High Court noted that the panchayat had no scientific data or relevant
material to cancel the license already granted on the ground that the
installation of the tower would cause any health hazard. Based on the same, the
writ petition was allowed.
Based on the above
Judgment Justice Jayant Nath has dismissed the Petition holding that
“it is clear 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
petitioner has not been able to produce any data whatsoever showing any such
harmful effects on the health of human beings. The petitioner has also not been
able to show violation of any norms by the respondent”.
In December 2015, the
High Court of Himachal Pradesh, had held that, mobile tower radiations do not cause any
health hazard to people living in its vicinity and it is a just a myth being
spread in order to create panic among people. The first bench of the High Court
comprising of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan,
dismissed a batch of writ petitions which had challenged installation of mobile
towers near their residences.
Details of the judgment
|
Sl. No.
|
Case Number
|
Date of Judgment/Order
|
Party
|
|
1.
|
W.P.(C)--5550/2015
|
26/04/2016
|
KAPIL CHOUDHARY AND ANR.
Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. |
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