Maharashtra cricket body moves SC over shifting of IPL ties

NEW DELHI: The Mumbai Cricket Association moved the Supreme Court on Friday against a Bombay high court order that shifted Indian Premier League matches out of Maharashtra because of a drought and water scarcity in the state.

Twelve matches were moved out of Maharashtra following widespread outrage over water wastage in maintaining cricket pitches at a time when vast swathes of the state were grappling with scorching heat, water rationing and tanker supplies.

In its plea, the MCA said it will use treated sewage water for cricket pitches, not potable water. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned MCA’s appeal before a bench headed by justice Dipak Misra, which accepted his plea to hear the matter on Monday.

The Bombay high court’s April 13 order meant the May 29 IPL final and other matches involving Rising Pune Supergiants, defending champions Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab had to be moved out of the state.

This translated into huge financial losses for the host associations that bank on the money generated in ticket sales and promotions during the cash-rich tournament. Sibal said his client was not against the people of the drought-hit Marathwada region, where 3% water is left in dams.

He said the appeal should not be seen as the MCA not having sympathy for those suffering under the drought. The high court’s decision to shift the matches had come in spite of an assurance by the Indian cricket board that the IPL franchises of Mumbai and Pune will contribute R5 crore to the chief minister’s drought relief fund. The MCA told the SC it shared the court’s concerns about drought and submitted that it offered to supply water to villages to mitigate distress.

The MCA said the HC should have evolved a practical solution to the water problem by allowing it to go ahead with its contribution and letting the matches happen. The money spent in drought-affected areas would have come from the revenue the association earned from hosting the IPL ties.

Over 700,000 litres of water is required for the entire tournament, it said. “The petitioner, in its affidavit dated April 12, 2016 (before HC), has clearly undertaken to use only treated sewage water made available to it by the Royal Western India Turf Club from its sewage treatment plant at Mahalaxmi, Mumbai, which otherwise, in any case, would have been released into the sea,” read the appeal.