Bombay High Court allows BCCI to host May 1 match at Pune
Apr 20, 2016 at 12:22 PM
Bombay High Court on Tuesday allowed IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants to be held in Pune on May 1.
Last week , the court had ordered shifting out all IPL matches from Maharashtra, as the state is undergoing one of the worst water crisis.
The court said, “There is a drought situation in the State, there is not a drop of water available, all dams are drying” and asked, “whether the State can turn a blind eye to the scarcity of water.”
Apart from Pune, Mumbai’s Wankhade stadium and Vidarbha Cricket Stadium were initially allotted 13 matches this season.
Earlier, Board of Control for Cricket in India has moved to the Bombay High Court to allow the May 1 match of the Indian Premier League in Pune to be held as scheduled.
The cash-rich league has been at the centre of controversy after a PIL filed by the Founder for Democratic Reforms and Loksatta Movement highlighted that the IPL venues in Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur were consuming 60 lakh litres of water to maintain their respective pitches at a time when the state of Maharashtra was going through a drought.
At the end of several days of hearing, the High Court ordered matches scheduled from April 30 onward to be moved out of the state.
Also, the HC said the water would have been consumed by the three grounds be supplied to the court nominated villages in Maharashtra.
However, the BCCI now seeks court’s approval to allow the Rising Pune Supergiants vs Mumbai Indians in Pune on May 1 to go ahead as scheduled.
The IPL even before starting have to face the fury of Bombay High Court as Latur has been suffering from the severe water crisis. High Court asked BCCI not to use a drop of water to maintain the pitch. To make batting friendly surfaces BCCI has to use gallons of water. As the people from Latur are not getting a drop of water High Court asked BCCI to shift IPL matches from Maharashtra.
BCCI also agreed to shift matches from the state. But, now they cited the logistic problem and want to hold the match at Pune.