Not IPL, people are important- HC

April 07, 2016 11:01

Due to the water scarcity in the country, Bombay High Court suggested to shift the IPL to some other country from India.

“Shift IPL to some other state, can it be done?” the Bombay High Court asked the cricket authorities - Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Mumbai Cricket Association - yesterday.

HC said that, hosting the matches in Maharashtra would lead to a “criminal” waste of water in these times of drought.

VM Kanade and MS Karnik, the bench of Justices are hearing a PIL demanding that IPL matches be moved out of the state to avoid further water scarcity.

Out of the 20 matches that are scheduled to be played in the state, 8 are slated to be held in Mumbai itself.

According to MCA’s senior counsel, AS Khanderparker, around 40,000 lakh litres of water would be required to maintain the grounds and pitches for the Mumbai matches alone. Another 20,000 lakh litres would be required to prepare the pitches in Pune and Nagpur, which is reeling under a severe water crisis.

Advocates Arshil Shah and Ankita Verma, who appeared for the petitioner, Loksatta Movement, pointed out, “In total, around 60,000 lakh litres of water is likely to be used in the state to maintain the pitches, and in such conditions of drought, it will go completely against the water policy of the state.”

Responding to this, Justice Kanade said, “How can you waste so much water; it’s criminal. People are more important than playing IPL. The cricket boards are mostly headed by politicians who have not done anything. We are not against the IPL, but some contingency plan must be in place.”

Government pleader, Geeta Shastri was asked not to waste any water during drought, and also check where MCA was going to source so much water from.

Reacting to this, MCA lawyer said that the association mostly used non-potable water supplied by the water tankers. Countering this, the petitioner’s lawyer, Shah, questioned where the non-potable water comes from? The bench will likely pass an order in the matter today and has asked Maharashtra acting Advocate General Rohit Dev to be present.