The Bombay High Court’s poser to the cricket associations of Maharashtra and the Board of Control for Cricket in India redeems our faith in the judiciary (“ >Why hold IPL in drought-hit Maharashtra: HC ”, April 7). As the late justice V.R. Krishna Iyer said: “The court is for the people and therefore its credentials are based on dispensation of justice to the national constituency without fear or favour and with utter impartiality.” The judges have displayed extraordinary courage in questioning the wisdom of allowing cricket extravaganzas like IPL matches that involve the wastage of lakhs of litres of water when people of the State have no water even for their basic needs. Let us hope that the High Court’s observation serves to sensitise cricket associations elsewhere too.
K. Natarajan,
Thanjavur
With politicians looking the other way, it finally fell on the Bombay High Court to do the needful. The court is correct in raising the moral question, is it right to go ahead with cricket matches when we have a huge water crisis? IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla has ruled out shifting the matches out of Maharashtra, saying arrangements have already been made and shifting it to some other State would be difficult. His show-must-go-on attitude is disgusting. With reduction in reservoir levels, severe heat, depleting groundwater, and unavailability of drinking water all affecting the poor farmers, can we really go ahead with an extravaganza? We all love cricket, but sport cannot distance itself from a crisis.
J.S. Acharya,
Hyderabad
