Sparing the BCCI the trouble of shifting the inaugural IPl match between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants in Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium, the High Court refused to stay the first T20 fixture scheduled for April 9 — on the ground it wanted to know from the State Government and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as to whether the water supplied to stadiums in tankers was potable or non-potable.
“The petition is filed just before the IPl matches are to begin from April 9...we do not propose to grant a stay at this stage...,” the court observed.
However, uncertainty continues over the fate of remaining 19 matches scheduled at the stadiums of Maharashtra i.e., Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.
The HC asked the State Government to clarify in their separate affidavits, if they had made any enquiries about the source of water supplied to the stadiums through tankers.
Averring that it will not consider granting a stay on the IPl matches in Maharashtra unless it ascertained whether the water used for maintenance of cricket pitches for IPl matches, the HC Bench observed in its order, “The petition is filed just before the IPl matches are to begin from April 9...we do not propose to grant a stay at this stage...we want to know the source of water supplied to the cricket grounds for maintaining the pitches”.
The HC Bench directed the State Government and the BMC to file separate affidavits by April 12 clarifying whether the water supplied to stadiums during the IPl matches was portable or non-portable.
Hearing a PIl filed by NGO “loksatta Movement” which challenged the use of 60,000 litres of water for maintenance of cricket pitches during IPl matches, Justice Kanade of the HC bench was candid when he said: “This is a serious issue, the government needs to look at it seriously... People where they have money can have as much water as they can whereas in other places people are getting water once in three days...this is an anomaly”.
“You are dealing with people at large...animals have died, cattle have died, people are dying and you want to maintain pitches and grounds,” Justice Kanade observed, as he directed the State Government to spell out what short-term and long-term measures it has planned to tide over the water crisis.
Upbraiding the BMC for failing to rein in the water tanker lobby which was exploiting to the hilt the current water shortage in the metropolis, Justice Kanade observed, “I am told that these tankers charges over Rs 900 per tanker. How it is permissibleIJ How can you (BMC) allow thisIJ After all, the wells and borewells from where they draw water belong to the corporation”.
The HC Bench asked the State Government and other authorities if they had formulated any policy for supply of portable and non-portable water to Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan and other cities in Maharashtra.
In a specific query, the HC Bench asked the State Government to clarify in their separate affidavits, if they had made any enquiries about the source of water supplied to the stadiums through tankers.
Enlarging the scope of the PIl, the judges sought to know from the state government and civic authorities if they had drawn up any contingency plans to meet further scarcity of water in the event of the delay in the arrival of monsoon this year.
Acting Advocate General Rohit Dev told the court, “We have emergency plans for coming months. We have mirco-level planning for each of the districts...there are two high-powered committees which are looking into the issue.”
In another query, the HC Bench asked the authorities to inform if they had imposed any restrictions on use of water in marriages and receptions to be held during the month of April-May 2016 in view of the severe water crisis prevailing in the state.
Holding that use of water for maintaining cricket pitches for Indian Premier league (IPl) matches was a “criminal waste” and wondering if people are more important than cricket matches, the same HC division bench had on Wednesday observed that the IPl matches be ideally shifted to some other State outside Maharashtra where water was in abundance. It had asked the Maharashtra Government as to what steps it was restrict wastage of water during IPl matches.
Making no bones about the wastage of water by the cricket bodies, the HC bench had told BCCI and other cricket bodies in Maharashtra, “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”.