Bombay High Court stays attachment of cell towers in Pune

Mumbai: The vacation bench of the Bombay high court on Friday stayed attachment of over 100 mobile towers belonging to various telecom and infrastructure providers in Pune city by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The court stayed the PMC action on grounds that the stipulated period of 15 days after serving notice had not lapsed.

The PMC on December 21 had served mobile tower and office premise attachment notices to various telecom providers which included GTL Infrastructure, IDEA Cellular, and Reliance Infratel for not paying property tax and interest on the amount accruing to Rs 332 crore. The PMC on December 23 had initiated attachment proceedings, prompting telecom providers to request a stay.      

The vacation court comprising Justice K.K. Tated was hearing separate civil applications and a notice of motion filed by telecom operators and infrastructure providers, drawing the court’s attention to the fact that PMC had initiated attachment proceedings under taxation rules of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act within two days of serving them notice. The applicants pointed out that PMC’s action was initiated before completion of the 15-day period after serving notice and hence, prayed for a stay.

An official representing the applicants said that the PMC was not following rules and had begun the process of attaching some properties and mobile towers. As PMC action would have resulted in telecom services in certain areas of Pune city being affected, they approached the high court to stay the action.

On his part, the government pleader appearing for PMC informed the court that the civic corporation had, from time to time, issued demand notices to the operators. “In view of the earlier demand notice, there is no question of waiting for 15 days from the date of the present demand notice dated December 21, 2016,” he said.