Bombay High Court gives Mumbai Cricket Association until next week to notify its water needs for IPL

With the Indian Premier League season beginning on Saturday, the Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to let it be known by next week whether it will require and seek additional water for maintaining pitches at Wankhede Stadium.

A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Riyaz Chagla posed this query to the Association after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) informed the court that it would not be supplying water for maintenance of pitches to the Association for the next five years.

The court also asked the state government to place on record its existing water supply policy as it is believed to have allowed the Vidharbha Cricket Association and Maharashtra Cricket Association to use irrigation water for the maintenance of pitches.

The direction was given during the hearing of a PIL filed by NGO Loksatta Movement in 2016 raising concerns over the use of water for ground management during IPL when the state was facing a drought-like situation.

In April 2016, the High Court had directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to shift all IPL matches to be held in Maharashtra to other states in wake of the severe shortage of water supply in rural areas.

Advocate Suresh Pakale appearing for BMC informed the court that it has not been supplying water to IPL for the last three years and supply to the stadium was only for sanitation and drinking purposes and that charges are recovered accordingly.