Shift IPL out of Maharashtra, says Bombay High Court

At a time when Maharashtra is under a severe drought, the Bombay High Court said that ideally IPL matches should be shifted elsewhere, where there is no water crisis.

"Ideally, you should shift the IPL matches to some other state where water is in abundance," the court observed.

The HC came cracking down on the BCCI and cricket associations in Maharashtra and Mumbai over water wastage.

"Only if water supply to BCCI is cut, you will understand," the court observed.

"How can you (cricket associations and BCCI) waste water like this? People are more important or your IPL matches? How can you be so careless? Who wastes water like this? This is criminal wastage. You know what the condition is in Maharashtra," a division bench headed by Justices VM Kanade and MS Karnik said, while hearing a PIL filed by NGO 'Loksatta Movement'.

The PIL has challenged the use of nearly 60 lakh litres of water to maintain pitches at three stadiums in the state which is to host IPL matches. The court asked the Mumbai Cricket Association how much water would be used in the Wankhede stadium, to which the MCA's advocate said they would be using over 40 lakh litres water for the seven IPL matches to be held there.

To this, the court said it is a huge number and the petitioner replied that pending the hearing of the PIL, the court should grant an interim order restraining all the cricket associations in Maharashtra from using water to maintain the pitches.

Asking a fundamental question

The court also asked a fundamental question to the BCCI and other cricket bodies about the importance of hosting cricket matches.

The HC also told the state that ultimately it is the government's responsibility and duty to do something about this (water wastage) and impose some kind of restraint. It also asked the state government to spell out tomorrow what steps it plans to take on the issue.

The high court, while posting the PIL for the hearing, had on Tuesday sought replies from all other respondents, including the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Vidarbha Cricket Association, the Maharashtra government and the civic bodies of Nagpur and Mumbai.

The advocate appearing for the petitioner said several villages in Maharashtra do not even have water for sanitation, cooking and other purposes. This non-portable water could be of use in such villages.