The Bombay High Court on Wednesday barred the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) from using water from Pavana dam for maintaining the Pune cricket stadium for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 till further orders.
Earlier, the Bombay HC had issued a notice to MCA and had sought a reply on how will they arrange water for maintaining the ground for IPL matches in Pune, according to an ANI report.
The development came after the remaining IPL matches of Chennai Super Kings were shifted from the state to the Maharashtra Cricket Association's International Stadium in Pune in the wake of the ongoing protest against the Centre's negligence for the formation of Cauvery Management Board (CMB).
Issuing the notice, the Bombay High Court asked the MCA to explain how they would arrange water for preparing and maintaining ground in Pune to conduct matches of IPL shifted from Chennai to Pune.
The notice was issued in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the NGO Loksatta Movement in 2016. In the same petition, Bombay HC had earlier ordered to move all the IPL matches out of Mumbai's Wankhede stadium during the ninth edition of the tournament in 2016.
During the hearing of their petition, Loksatta argued that Pune gets water supply only from Pawana river and that if the ground is to be prepared for IPL matches a lot of water would be needed which eventually affect the water supply of the prevailing drought-like situation of the state.
The MCA had been given a deadline of April 18 to respond to this notice.
Drought-like conditions in the state of Maharashtra have now become a yearly affair, with people facing severe water shortage during the summer months. Last year Mumbai Indians home matches were also shifted out of Mumbai due to water shortage.
A petition in Bombay High Court in 2013 had referred to statistics made available from cricket authorities, close to 65 lakh litre water had been used that year to maintain three stadiums - Wankhede in Mumbai, DY Patil in Navi Mumbai and Sahara Stadium in Pune - during the IPL that year.
Chennai Super King (CSK) home matches were shifted out of Chennai to Pune recently, due to Cauvery protests in the state of Tamil Nadu. There were massive protests ahead of the match between CSK and Kolkata Knight Riders. Protestors also flung a shoe at CSK's Ravindra Jadeja during the match.
The BCCI had short-listed four cities to host matches but eventually Pune was finalised since CSK captain MS Dhoni is familiar with the conditions having played two seasons with Rising Pune Supergiants.
Earlier this year, the court had asked MCA the same question regarding maintenance of Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium. MCA had said it would not make use of portable water and instead, use conserved water through rain-water harvesting system.
