Observing that use of water for maintaining cricket pitches for Indian Premier league (IPl) matches was a "criminal waste" and wondering if people were more important than cricket matches, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday suggested that the IPl matches be ideally shifted to some other state outside Maharashtra where water was in abundance.
Apart from pulling up the BCCI and other cricket associations in the state, a HC division bench headed by Justices V M Kanade and M S Karnik asked the Maharashtra government to inform the court as to what steps it was restrict wastage of water during IPl matches.
Stating that ultimately it was the state government's responsibility and duty to do something about this (water wastage) and impose some kind of restrictions on use of water for maintenance cricket pitches during IPl matches, the HC bench directed the state government to come out with its say on the issue on Thursday.
Hearing a PIl filed by NGO 'loksatta Movement' which had challenged the use of 60,000 litres of water for maintenance of cricket pitches during IPl matches, the HC bench made no bones about the wastage of water by the cricket bodies. "How can you waste water like thisIJ. People are more important or your IPl matchesIJ How can you be so carelessIJ Who wastes water like thisIJ This is criminal wastage. You know what the condition is in Maharashtra," the Judges told the BCCI and other cricket bodies in Maharashtra.
"Ideally, you should shift the IPl matches to some other State where water is in abundance," the HC bench observed.
During the course of hearing, the HC bench asked the Mumbai Cricket Association to specify as to how much water would be used in Wankhede stadium, to which 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 Judges said it was a huge volume of water.
The MCA's counsel told the court that they were purchasing non-potable water to maintain cricket pitches. "This water is non-potable and cannot be used for drinking purposes," he told the court. He also said that the MCA would come out with some contingency plan to tackle the water crisis.
Trupti Puranik, lawyer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) told the court that they were supplying water to the Wankhede stadium only for drinking purposes.
Responding swiftly to the MCA lawyer's claim that only non-potable water was being used to maintain cricket pitches, the petitioner's lawyer said that several drought-affected villages in Maharashtra did not even have water for sanitation, cooking and other purposes. This non-potable water could be of use in such villages.
The HC bench noted that the water shortage was not just to Marathwada region, the situation was equally bad in Thane, adjoining Mumbai. It also observed that in some places in Maharashtra, prohibitory orders under section 144 had been imposed in the vicinity of water supply spots.
The petitioner urged the HC bench that pending hearing of its PIl, the court should grant an interim order restraining all the cricket associations in Maharashtra from using water to maintain the pitches. The bench said it would consider the interim relief sought by the petitioner during its hearing on Wednesday.
The HC bench asked acting Advocate General Rohit Deo to appear for the government in the matter on Thursday.
The IPl tournament is scheduled to begin from April 9, with the first T20 match to be played in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium. A total of 20 matches will be played in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. The IPl T20 final is scheduled to be played at Wankhede Stadium on May 39.
The petitioners have told the court that the state was reeling under a drought and acute water shortage as levels in dams and lakes had gone down. "There is already a scarcity of drinking water and water for sanitation purposes, and the State authorities are turning a blind eye," the petition has said.
Apart from the PIl filed by NGO 'loksatta Movement', former journalist Ketan Tirodkar has filed a similar petition before the high court seeking a direction to the IPl Commissioner to pay tax on water, as about 60,000 litres per day would be required to maintain the pitches. "The IPl Commissioner should be asked to pay tax of Rs 1,000 per litre for meeting expenses of supplying water to the drought-affected district," Tirodkar stated in his petition.