The issue is related to issuing the cell phone major of NOC to 87 sub-sites of mobile towers belonging to the telecom company in Surat.
A bench of justices VM Sahai and AJ Desai allowed an appeal filed by Bharti Airtel Limited against the decision of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) not to grant No-objection Certificate (NOC) to the company in absence of eight important documents demanded by it.
The issue is related to issuing the cell phone major of NOC to 87 sub-sites of mobile towers belonging to the telecom company in Surat. The company had sought NOC from the civic body which demanded eight documents prior to granting it the NOC.
The eight documents include certified copy of development permissions and approved plan of the concerned building, structural stability certificate of concerned building, NOC of Airport Authority, contract with owner, terrace plan along with floor heights and NOC with signature of each and every member of the Society.
Bharti Airtel then challenged the SMC decision before the Gujarat high court stating that there is no need of such documents as all provisions are covered under the General Development Control Regulations (GDCR).
They argued that the fees for raising the telecommunication tower would be different irrespective of the fact whether towers are raised on legally constructed buildings or on illegally constructed ones. Therefore there is no need to requisition such documents.
On the other hand, SMC's counsel raised an issue of constructing mobile towers on illegal buildings. The counsel submitted that telecom towers on illegal building will not be treated as permission to the building which is otherwise necessary under the BPMC Act.
After hearing argument of both sides, the bench set aside the SMC's decision to requisite documents as GDCR rules also do not mandate this. However, the bench gave the civic body the liberty to take legal steps against those illegal buildings on which the company has permission to construct mobile towers.
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