PIL in High Court to stop matches at Mullanpur cricket stadium

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, April 4

Spread over more than 41 acres and with a capacity of 33,000, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium at Mullanpur may find itself playing a different innings on the legal turf, with the filing of a petition in public interest for restraining the BCCI and other respondents from conducting cricket matches and tournament there.

In his PIL against the state of Punjab and other respondents, a law student, Nikhil Thamman, has submitted that the stadium’s construction was “unauthorised” and in complete violation of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 2006 issued by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Elaborating, Thamman submitted that the mandatory forest and wildlife clearance under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, had not been taken from the National Board of Wildlife as the project fell within the 10 km radius of the bird sanctuary in Sector 21, Chandigarh.

Directions were also sought to restrain/restricting the BCCI-PCA and other respondents from hosting IPL matches. The petitioner also prayed for restraining the BCCI from selling the match tickets with immediate effect. The petition, filed in the High Court through counsel Sunaina, is yet to come up for hearing.

Referring to the legal provisions, the petitioner contended that the notification issued on September 14, 2006, made it clear that environment clearance was required to be obtained from the Central Government in case of any construction project with more than 1.5 lakh sq m of built-up area. The process of seeking clearance from a committee constituted for the purpose consisted of various steps/procedure.

He added that the Ministry of Environment and Forests had also issued directions vide letter dated March 15, 2011, that the user agency was required to seek prior clearance from the standing committee of National Board for Wildlife in case the project site was located within the eco-sensitive zone or within the 10 km, “in absence of declaration of such a zone around the boundary of the national park/ wildlife sanctuary”.

The petitioner added: “As of now, no eco-sensitive zone has been declared around the two wildlife sanctuaries of the UT Chandigarh. Therefore, all projects falling within the 10 km radius of the boundary of two bird sanctuaries –– Chandigarh City Bird Sanctuary in Sector 21 and Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary –– were required to seek the environment clearance.