By this Constitutional petition, a direction is sought against the functionaries of the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation, to the effect that a wireless telephone set be installed at the address of the petitioner.
2. It is stated in the petition that the petitioner applied for telephone i.e. E.D.P.C.O. For Village Chaba Sindhwan, District Gujranwala in 1992, which was sanctioned against the quota of Syed Iqbal Haider, Senator. In spite of the issuance of demand notice and deposit of Rs.2,000 on 6-8-1994, respondents have failed to install the Wireless Telephone Set at the premises of the petitioner, for extraneous reasons.
3. Respondents have submitted report according to which the petitioner himself never applied for the E.D.P.C.O. Facility. Syed Iqbal Haider, Senator had requested for installation of (VHF) long distance public call office at Village Chabba Sindhwan Kallian against his quota on 31-8-1992. The then M.N.A. Recommended the name of Sardar Muhammad Tariq, the petitioner as Custodian of the P.C.O. And on his asking the E.D.P.C.O. Tower was erected at his private Dera. Inhabitants of the village complained against installation of the tower at a private place. Departmental inquiry revealed that the place provided by the petitioner was not a common or public place. Syed Iqbal Haider, Senator also asked the respondents to shift the telephone tower from the petitioner's private place to the premises of the Government Hospital of Village Chabba. It is for this reason that the tower of the P.C.O. Has been ordered to be shifted to the Government Hospital premises of the village.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that since the petitioner has already deposited a sum of Rs. 2,000 and a tower has been erected at his place, therefore, he has become entitled for the Wireless Telephone Set. He further submits that his Dera/house is not a private place and villagers can get telephone facility from there as well. The submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner are not well founded. It is clear that the petitioner himself had never applied .For the telephone. It was a public call office sanctioned on the request of the Senator against his quota and it was meant to be installed at public place for the use of the inhabitants of the village. The petitioner who was nominated as custodian of the telephone by the MNA, got the wireless telephone tower erected at his private place, which was resented by the inhabitants of the village.
When this complaint was received by the Senator he wrote a letter to the Director, Microwave (VHF) on 20-7-1994, which is reproduced below:--- "A Public Call Office (VHF) which was recommended from my quota in 1991-92 for installation at Chabba Sindhwan, District Gujranwala on the recommendations of Mr. Muhammad Ashraf Waraich, Ex-- MNA. It has been reported that the said PCO is being installed at the house of Mr. Muhammad Tariq Gujar. This P.C.O. Was recommended for installation at a public place i.e. Hospital School or Union Council. The tower may be installed immediately at Hospital of Chabba Sindhwan and compliance report be sent and ensure that the Tower will not be installed in a private house.
5. From the contents of the above letter it is clear that the Public Call Office was recommended for installation at a public place (Hospital, School or Union Council) and now this facility has been directed to be provided at Govt. Hospital of the village, rather than at the private place of the petitioner. Action being taken by the respondents to instal the sanctioned P.C.O. (VHF) at a public place i.e. Hospital of the village is in consonance with the purpose for which the P.C.O. Was sanctioned i.e. To provide the facility of telephone for the benefit of all the inhabitants of the village.
The respondents have not committed any illegality in failing to provide the Wireless Telephone Set to the petitioner or shifting the telephone tower from his private place.
6. The installation of the telephone at the Hospital of the village will be for the common good of the inhabitants of the village in that, every resident can at all times of the day and night have a free access to the telephone facility at such a public place, which obviously cannot be availed of at the private Dera/house of the petitioner. The petitioner had never applied for the connection of the telephone nor was it sanctioned in his name. Therefore, he does not have any vested right to claim the installation of the Wireless Telephone/Public Call Office at his private place. The department has already directed the refund of the amount of Rs. 2,000 which the petitioner had deposited for receiving the telephone apparatus. The petitioner, therefore, is not an aggrieved person either, in the circumstances of the present case. The extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 199 of the Constitution cannot be exercised to serve the interest of an individual in preference to the collective interest of the village community. Resultantly, the writ petition is dismissed in limine.