No sealing of Delhi's illegal mobile phone towers till Monday

NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court Wednesday stayed the sealing of illegal mobile phone towers by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) till Monday.

Staying the sealing drive, Justice Kailash Gambhir asked the civic agency to explain the reasons for increasing the licence fee for the towers by about 200 percent.

On May 13, the high court stayed the sealing of illegal towers and asked the MCD and the cellular operators association to resolve the issue amicably.

Directing the civic agency and the association to resolve their differences, the court said: "It is a pubic interest matter and should be resolved immediately."

There are 5,364 mobile phone towers in MCD's jurisdiction. Of these, as many as 2,952 have been declared illegal for having come up without the civic agency's authorisation.

The MCD has already sealed about 300 towers in the past few months. But 41 were again made operational after the phone companies completed the formalities.

According to the civic agency, mobile operators who have erected towers illegally were given one month's time to get them regularised. The deadline expired in the first week of May.