Bombay HC water order could mar IPL matches

In a development that threatens to pose major logistic problems to the organisers in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday barred the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) from using water from Pavana dam for maintaining the Pune cricket stadium for IPL matches, till further orders.

The high court’s interim order came within days after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were shifted all its home IPL matches from Chennai to the MCA stadium in Pune in the wake of protests against the delay on the Centre’s part to constitute the Cauvery Management Board

The high court was hearing a PIL filed by NGO Loksatta Movement in 2016, challenging the use of water for IPL matches amid an acute drinking water shortage faced people in various parts of the State.

A HC division bench of Justices AS Oka and RI Chagla had last week issued to the MCA, seeking details about its plans of providing water to the IPL matches scheduled to be held at its stadium in Pune. The judges had ordered the issuance of a notice to the MCA, after the petitioner informed the court that CSK had shifted six of the IPL matches from Chennai to Pune’s MCA stadium.

At Wednesday hearing, the MCA informed the high court that it had entered into an agreement in 2012 with the Maharashtra irrigation department, under which it could draw 2.5 lakh litres of water daily from the Pavana river for maintaining its stadium.

The petitioner’s lawyer Rakesh Singh opposed the MCA’s plans to use water from Pavana river on the ground that the river caters to the drinking water, sanitation and irrigation needs of Pune and adjoining districts in western Maharashtra.

Loksatta Movement’s contention is that as per the Maharashtra Government’s water policy, drinking water and sanitation are top priorities, followed irrigation, industries and recreational activities.

After pursuing the agreement reached between the MCA and State irrigation department which stated that water from Pavana river was being given to the cricket body for industrial use, the HC bench demanded to know from MCA as to what industrial activity it was indulging in. The Judges also wanted to know from the MCA if  it had filed an affidavit before the court that the IPL was a recreational activity.

Not satisfied with the MCA’s reply, the HC bench restrained the Maharashtra Government from supplying any water from the river to the cricket association till further orders.

The controversy over the use of water from public sources for maintaining the cricket grounds across Maharashtra has resurfaced two years after the Bombay High Court directed the BCCI to shift all the matches scheduled to be played in Maharashtra after April 30, 2018, to another State in view of the severe drought prevailing in the State.

In an order passed on April 13, 2016, a HC division bench of  a division bench of Justices Kanade and MS Karnik had observed: “We agree that merely shifting of IPL matches out of the state will not be a solution but this can be a beginning to address the drought situation in Maharashtra. Several people are dying because of water scarcity in the state. This court cannot ignore the plight of such people”.

Averring that several districts in Maharashtra were not even getting water for sanitation and other purposes and that the non—potable water being used by the stadiums to maintain pitches could be of use in such districts, the Judges had said that under the prevailing circumstances, the BCCI and other cricket bodies ought to have on their own offered to shift the IPL fixtures out of Maharashtra.

“In such cases one would have expected the BCCI and other respondents (Maharashtra Cricket Association and Bombay Cricket Association) to come forward on their own and shift the matches out of Maharashtra. However, unfortunately, nothing has been done. This court has now no other option than to direct BCCI to transfer matches out of Maharashtra,” the HC bench had said.

“One of the matters brought up before us was logistical issues for shifting the matches. We are giving a fortnight’s time to make the logistical arrangements,” the bench had said.