The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the petitions of the Maharashtra and Mumbai cricket associations to set aside a Bombay High Court order to shift IPL matches outside the drought-hit State.
The split-second dismissal by a Bench led by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur followed long deliberations in the courtroom about allowing the matches to continue in Mumbai and Pune, though with stringent restrictions like cutting municipal water supply and use of treated sewage water for the grounds and the cricket pitch.
The hearing began with Chief Justice Thakur asking senior advocates A.M. Singhvi and P. Chidambaram, representing the two cricket bodies, about the disparity of conducting IPL matches when entire parts of the State are starved of water.
“The issue is why you have to waste water when people do not have a drop,” Chief Justice Thakur observed.
CJI Thakur said all municipal water connections to the grounds would be disconnected and “we will see that not a drop of water flows to you or your institution”.
The court further expressed its intention to even appoint a local commissioner to monitor compliance by the association.
But the Bench, in a last minute decision, dismissed the plea after having noted that it would be better to shift the matches out rather than to create a situation where all kinds of regulations would be needed.
Earlier, senior advocate A. M. Singhvi appearing for the cricket association said treated sewage water wass used to water the cricket grounds. He submitted that the association was willing to be subject to any condition the Supreme Court imposed on it.
In his submissions, Mr. P. Chidamabaram, also representing the cricket bodies said hardly over four lakh litres of treated sewage water would be used to wet the grounds for the six matches in May.
The dismissal of the petition would lead to a relocation of five IPL matches scheduled for the home grounds of IPL franchises Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants.
The Bombay High Court had on April 13 ordered shifting of all IPL matches scheduled in Maharashtra after April 30 to another State.
Published - April 27, 2016 01:10 pm IST
