PIL filed to shift IPL matches out of Bengaluru

More problems has clouded over the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after a PIL seeking to shift IPL matches out of Bengaluru due to ‘severe drought’, was filed in the Karnataka High Court on Monday.

The IPL 9 kicked off with an amazing clash between Rising Pune Supergiants and Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The IPL debutants trounced the defending champions by 9 wickets.

A Bengaluru-based advocate, Diwakar had submitted the petition to the Karnataka High Court with the intention of shifting the IPL matches out of the state. However, since he didn’t add the IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla as a party to the same, the court asked him to re-submit the petition on 11 April.

In an interview given to the PTI, Diwakar said, “I made an attempt to move the High Court asking BCCI (The Board of Control for Cricket in India) to shift matches out of Karnataka as it is facing water problems and severe drought conditions.”

“The court directed me to file the petition afresh on Monday (11 April 2016) as Rajeev Shukla was not made the party to the case,” he added.

The court, however, has rejected the petition filed by a lawyer named Diwakar, saying there are some technical faults in his plea. The court, however, asked him to file the petition afresh as he did not make IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla a party before the petition could be taken up for hearing.

The Indian T20 carnival was facing protests and objections this year prior to the start of the tournament due to the Maharashtra drought problem.

A similar PIL was filed by a Mumbai-based activist. The matter is now in hands of Bombay High Court which had suggested the BCCI to shift the matches out of Maharashtra venue Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.

Also, Read – BJP MLA Siddharth Parmar stages protest to shift IPL matches from Rajkot