HC dismisses PIL opposing IPL matches in Kanpur

The Allahabad High Court today dismissed a Public Interest Litigation which opposed the holding of two Indian Premiere League (IPL) cricket matches in Kanpur later this week due to a drought-like situation in Uttar Pradesh and possible use of huge volume of water for preparing the ground.
A division bench, comprising Justice Dilip Gupta and Justice R N Kakkar, dismissed the PIL filed by Giriraj Kishore and two others, holding that the petition was "misconceived".
The petitioners had contended that there was a drought-like situation in Uttar Pradesh and holding such an event anywhere in the state would involve the use of a huge quantity of water for preparing the ground.

However, the court concurred with the submission of Chief Standing Counsel Ramesh Upadhyay that Kanpur received a 420 MLD water supply of which only 0.22 MLD is used for the Green Park stadium where the matches are scheduled to be held on May 19 and May 21.
Moreover, the CSC added that while "no extra water" was going to be used for making the venue ready for the high-profile event, on the days when matches were scheduled, no water is sprinkled on the ground at all.