While deliberating on the ‘important question’ of ‘installing towers on residential buildings’, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday (March 03) directed the Punjab government not to allow towers to be erected on residential buildings until further orders. (Interim Measures) A division bench of Justices Rajan Gupta and Justice Karamjit Singh has passed the order in view of the fact that randomly installing towers may endanger the lives and property of the people and their Article 21 of the Constitution Rights will be violated.
Apart from this, the bench has also issued a notice to the Punjab State Government stating that they should clarify whether a similar policy is being adopted across Punjab or stand-alone instructions have been given for a particular place. Another question that came up before the court is whether sometimes due to the velocity of the wind, the towers could move from their place and threaten the lives of the people? As a preliminary observation, the court stated that apart from the tower, there are batteries on the roof, which may not be able to bear the burden.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on 10 March 2021. Recently, refusing to issue a mandate to relocate the mobile tower, the Uttarakhand High Court held that it is neither the responsibility nor the duty of the court to run the administration.
Further, the Allahabad High Court recently dismissed a writ petition seeking removal of the mobile tower from a residential area.
