IPL during COVID: SC dismisses plea raising issue; says 'infructuous' now

The Supreme Court on Monday (October 10) refused to entertain a petition which raised the issue of conducting Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 matches during the COVID-19 surge, observing some of the prayers have become “infructuous” with the passage of time.

The petition was filed by a Delhi-based man in April last year.

“With regard to rest of the prayers, we see no reason to entertain this petition,” said a bench of Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justice SR Bhat.

Also read: IPL 2022: Full list of award winners, prize money details and key stats

During the hearing, the petitioner told the bench the plea was filed during the COVID-19 period when a lockdown was imposed across cities.

“It has become infructuous now,” the bench observed.

The petitioner insisted it must be enquired as to why IPL matches were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic when people were dying due to the deadly virus.

He referred to the COVID-induced lockdown period and said even migrant labourers were not allowed to move during that time.

Also read: COVID-19: Schools, colleges shut in several states; IPL postponed

The bench observed several precautions were taken during the IPL and that was an activity which was permitted by the authority concerned.

“You are again mixing up certain things. There were certain zones, certain times, certain periods within which there was no activity. There were certain relaxations which happened thereafter,” the court observed, when the petitioner touched upon his other prayers like withdrawing permission for conducting the IPL and launching criminal prosecution against the organisers.

It then dismissed the plea.

Also read: COVID hits IPL; cases in Delhi, Haryana go up

In 2020, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had announced in February that it would host IPL 2020 in India from March 29 to May 24. However, on March 13, it suspended the tournament till April 15 and later moved the tournament to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with matches played from September 19 to November 10.

In 2021, IPL began in Chennai on April 9 but was postponed due to multiple COVID cases among players. Later, the tournament was completed in the UAE. This year, IPL returned to India with 10 teams playing the league.