Stop sealing mobile towers, court tells MCD

Delhi's mobile users on Thursday heaved a sigh of relief when the Delhi High Court restrained the MCD from sealing illegal mobile phone towers. Staying all action till May 19, the court also asked the MCD to explain why the towers were being sealed.

Delhi's mobile users on Thursday heaved a sigh of relief when the Delhi High Court restrained the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) from sealing illegal mobile phone towers.

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Staying all action till May 19, the court also asked the MCD to explain why the towers were being sealed.

Justice Kailash Gambhir asked the Cellular Operators Association and the MCD to resolve the issue "amicably".

Cellular operators had contended "powers flowing from the Indian Telegraph Act as per which they installed the tower is vested with the Central Government and not with any civic agency".

The MCD had begun the sealing from May 12 after the deadline for operators to apply for regularisation expired last week. Twenty four towers were sealed on Wednesday.

MCD says that out of 5,364 towers in the city, only 2,412 have requisite permission and the remaining 2,952 were illegal.

The civic body had earlier sealed 300 illegal towers and given several deadlines to the tower operators to apply for regularisation in keeping with new guidelines unveiled by it.