rahul1117kumar
Contributor
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2013
- Messages
- 10,365
- Reaction score
- 11,057
The Rajasthan High Court on Thursday served notices to the state government and the BCCI, asking them to respond by Wednesday with their side of the arguments about holding IPL matches shifted out from Maharashtra , in Rajasthan.
The HC notices came in response to a PIL filed on Wednesday by city-based freelance journalist Mahesh Pareek, who sought the matches to be stayed till the petition was disposed off.
Hearing the petition Thursday morning, the HC asked why the state government and BCCI thought of conducting the matches in Jaipur, when the water situation in Rajasthan was worse than many states.
The matter is scheduled to be heard next on 27th April.
“According to the state and national water policy, cricket, which comes under leisure and entertainment, falls at the bottom end of priorities as far as public use of water is concerned,” the petitioner’s lawyer Prateek Kasliwal told The Indian Express.
The petition has argued that if the IPL matches, for the Mumbai Indians franchise, were shifted out of Maharashtra because of water scarcity, Rajasthan was not an appropriate venue since the state was suffering a water crisis as well.
The matches were moved out of Maharashtra on orders of the Bombay High Court and are scheduled to be held at the Sawai Mansingh Staidum in Jaipur, which MI chose as their home ground .
“…huge quantity (nearly 80 lakh liters) of water is proposed and ready to be willingly wasted by the Respondent No. 1 to 4 (state government and its various water-related departments), for the purpose of maintaining the Cricket Pitches on the venue i.e. Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur which has been nominated for Indian Premier League, 2016, replacing State of Maharashtra in light of the order of Hon’ble Bombay High Court dated 14.04.2016,” the petition says.
“The State of Rajasthan more particularly the City of Jaipur is already facing acute shortage of water as the level of water in dams and lakes in the State has gone down,” it contends.
The petition points out that “19 out of 33 districts including Jaipur” faced deficit rainfall as the state received 19.23 per cent less rainfall last monsoon. It also says that 12 of the 13 blocks in Jaipur fell under “over-exploited category”.
Pointing out the water crisis in Jaipur as well as Rajasthan, the petition argues that the decision to host the MI matches in Jaipur was a violation of article 21 of the constitution.
It even invokes one of the Directive Principles of State Policy, under article 47, against the state government’s decision to host IPL matches.
The state government had only Tuesday ironed out differences between BCCI and the Lalit Modi-led Rajasthan cricket association. While the BCCi did not want RCA involvement in the matches, Modi had warned the cricket body against holding the matches without involving it as “it would be illegal”.
Why hold IPL 2016 matches in Rajasthan? High Court asks government, BCCI | The Indian Express
The HC notices came in response to a PIL filed on Wednesday by city-based freelance journalist Mahesh Pareek, who sought the matches to be stayed till the petition was disposed off.
Hearing the petition Thursday morning, the HC asked why the state government and BCCI thought of conducting the matches in Jaipur, when the water situation in Rajasthan was worse than many states.
The matter is scheduled to be heard next on 27th April.
“According to the state and national water policy, cricket, which comes under leisure and entertainment, falls at the bottom end of priorities as far as public use of water is concerned,” the petitioner’s lawyer Prateek Kasliwal told The Indian Express.
The petition has argued that if the IPL matches, for the Mumbai Indians franchise, were shifted out of Maharashtra because of water scarcity, Rajasthan was not an appropriate venue since the state was suffering a water crisis as well.
The matches were moved out of Maharashtra on orders of the Bombay High Court and are scheduled to be held at the Sawai Mansingh Staidum in Jaipur, which MI chose as their home ground .
“…huge quantity (nearly 80 lakh liters) of water is proposed and ready to be willingly wasted by the Respondent No. 1 to 4 (state government and its various water-related departments), for the purpose of maintaining the Cricket Pitches on the venue i.e. Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur which has been nominated for Indian Premier League, 2016, replacing State of Maharashtra in light of the order of Hon’ble Bombay High Court dated 14.04.2016,” the petition says.
“The State of Rajasthan more particularly the City of Jaipur is already facing acute shortage of water as the level of water in dams and lakes in the State has gone down,” it contends.
The petition points out that “19 out of 33 districts including Jaipur” faced deficit rainfall as the state received 19.23 per cent less rainfall last monsoon. It also says that 12 of the 13 blocks in Jaipur fell under “over-exploited category”.
Pointing out the water crisis in Jaipur as well as Rajasthan, the petition argues that the decision to host the MI matches in Jaipur was a violation of article 21 of the constitution.
It even invokes one of the Directive Principles of State Policy, under article 47, against the state government’s decision to host IPL matches.
The state government had only Tuesday ironed out differences between BCCI and the Lalit Modi-led Rajasthan cricket association. While the BCCi did not want RCA involvement in the matches, Modi had warned the cricket body against holding the matches without involving it as “it would be illegal”.
Why hold IPL 2016 matches in Rajasthan? High Court asks government, BCCI | The Indian Express
