The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a public interest litigation petition that sought a directive to the Union government to appoint an independent regulator to monitor radiation from mobile phone towers.

A Bench of Justices H. L. Dattu and C. K. Prasad told Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, that the government had laid down the emission norms only in September and as such it should be given some more time to enforce them — and tighten them, if need be. “For the present, we are not inclined to admit the PIL [petition].”