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[caption id="attachment_11197" align="alignnone" width="580"] IPL matches to be shifted out of Maharashtra due to severe drought. Image Source: File Pic[/caption] Internet Desk: The Bombay High Court has directed the BCCI to shift all IPL matches out of Maharashtra after 30th April 2016. The Bombay High Court must surely have kept in mind the worsening drought conditions at Maharashtra and gave the order. The replacement venues have not been announced yet and it seems that the final will also have to be moved out of the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. The court also ordered it would be better to shift the matches outside Maharashtra as the state of the drought in the state is quite a serious issue. Hearing a petition filed by Loksatta Movement which challenged the excessive use of water to maintain pitches at three stadiums where IPL matches would be held from April 9, a division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade said it was the state government’s responsibility to impose restraint on the use of water during drought. On Tuesday, the HC had asked BCCI whether it could shift IPL matches out of Pune due to the severe water crisis in Maharashtra even as the cricket board said it would procure treated sewage water for maintenance of pitches in Mumbai and Pune. A bench of Justices V M Kanade and M S Karnik, hearing a PIL by NGO Loksatta Movement challenging use of large quantities of water in stadiums at a time when the state was reeling under severe drought conditions, had asked the BCCI to respond. The judges also asked the board whether it can contribute to the Chief Minister's drought relief fund. Nine matches have been planned in Pune and eight in Mumbai, where the opening match was held on 9 April at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, the BCCI's counsel told the court. Three matches are slated to be held in Nagpur, and IPL franchise KIngs XI Punjab has agreed to shift them to Mohali or elsewhere if the HC tells it, he said.