HC calls Juhi Chawla's suit against 5G 'defective', filed for 'media publicity'

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday termed as ldquodefectiverdquo the suit of actressenvironmentalist Juhi Chawla against setting up of 5G wireless networks in the country and said it was filed for ldquomedia publicityrdquoThe court also questioned Chawla for filing the suit without giving any representation to the government on her concerns related to the technologyJustice J R Midha said the plaintiffs Chawla and two others were required to first approach the government for their rights and if denied they should come to the courtThe court which reserved order on the suit after hearing the arguments of various parties also asked as to why as many as 33 parties have been added to the plaint and said it is not permitted under the lawAlso Read Delhi HC asks Juhi Chawla to give short note on plea against 5G technology hearing at 3 PMldquoIt is not the sweet will of the plaintiff to join as many parties and cause of action Please see the memo of parties Tell me how you have joined them Every party cannot be arrayed in the suitrdquo the judge saidThe court further said ldquoIt is a defective plaint This suit has been filed only for media publicity and nothing more than that It is very shockingrdquoldquoDid you approach the government with a representation If yes is there any denialrdquo the court asked to which the plaintiffs counsel replied in negativeThe court said in the suit the plaintiff says lsquoI have personal knowledge of paragraphs 1 to 8rsquo onlyldquoPlaintiff has no personal knowledge of the plaint I am surprised How can it be Is the suit permissible when the plaintiff has no personal knowledge of the averment I have not seen a suit where a person says I dont know please conduct an inquiryrdquo the judge saidThe court asked about the knowledge of plaintiffs on the facts and warned to prosecute them on filing false claimsThe plea claimed that 5G wireless technology threatens to provoke serious irreversible effects on humans and permanent damage to the earths ecosystemsThe suit filed by Chawla social worker Veeresh Malik and Teena Vachani said that if the telecom industrys plans for 5G come to fruition no person animal bird insect and plant on earth will be able to avoid exposure 24 hours a day 365 days a year to levels of RF radiation that are 10x to 100x times greater than what exists todayAdvocate Deepak Khosla representing the plaintiffs said the 5G technology trials involving human population have been done and added that these are not pigs and ratsThe court was hearing arguments only on several applications filed by the plaintiffs including payment of court fees and permission to institute a suitSolicitor General Tushar Mehta and advocate Amit Mahajan representing the Department of Telecommunications said the 5G policy does not fall in the category of public nuisance and it is obviously not prohibited in lawMehta said the plaintiffs need to show how the technology is wrongful and termed the suit as an illconceived litigationMahajan said the plaintiffs could have filed a PIL if they wanted to avoid depositing court feesldquoWhat is the hidden agendardquo he said adding that a petition on similar issues was earlier filed by the plaintiffs before the Bombay High Court and it was not pending in the Supreme Court which was the reason for not filing a PIL and instituting a private suitSenior advocate Kapil Sibal representing private telecom companies said launching of 5G technology is a policy of the government and as it is a policy it cannot be a wrongful actOn the issue of public nuisance he said it has to be first established by the plaintiffs that the policy is a public nuisance and they cannot just make averments and get the reliefldquoThey have to establish that the policy itself is wrongrdquo he saidKholsa said the implementation of 5G technology should not be done at the cost of othersOn being asked by the court as to what was the special damage done to the plaintiffs the counsel said ldquoI am suffering radiation every time I use a cellphonerdquoThe suit has sought a direction to the authorities to certify to the public at large that how 5G technology is safe to humans animals and every type of living organism flora and faunaldquoThis suit will reveal a complete sellout by the regulatory agencies who statutorily have been tasked to protect the health and life of the public but whose actions reveal an utter derogation of their own statutory duty in order to advance private interestsrdquo the plea has allegedldquoSince prevention is wellaccepted to be far better than cure immediate measures must be taken to protect humanity and the environment in accordance with ethical imperatives as well as formal international agreements before such harm is actually unleashedrdquo it saidThe plea said that in April 2019 Brussels became the first major city in the world to halt any further steps in the 5G rollout on account of health hazardsldquoIn fact as recently as on May 5 2021 the Parliament of Belgium still not willing to allow 5G rollout in Brussels invited 45 ordinary citizens drawn at random to address it on their concerns assuring them that the 5G rollout will not be permitted till they are heard by Parliament and their concerns are properly and fully addressedrdquo it saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever