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The Supreme Court intends to person a squad of domain experts assistance “define” the Aravalli Range, and gully a roadworthy representation for permissible activities, including the anticipation of regulated mining successful 1 of the oldest and ecologically-sensitive upland systems successful the world.
The committee would comprise experts from “different walks of life”, including environmentalists, scientists, foresters, and “special experts successful regulated mining wherever the instrumentality permits”, a Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said connected Wednesday (January 21, 2026).
The tribunal asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati and amicus curiae, elder advocator K. Parameshwar, to suggest names.
The experts would enactment “under the umbrella” of the Supreme Court, straight nether the court’s supervision and control, Chief Justice Kant said.
A erstwhile Supreme Court judgement connected November 20, 2025, upholding a authorities committee’s explanation of the Aravalli, had led to nationalist furore and apprehensions voiced astir the ecological information of the elevation range. Elevations of 100 metres oregon above, and elevation clusters, slopes and hillocks located wrong 500 metres of each other, would beryllium considered arsenic the Aravalli, the earlier explanation had said.
The tribunal had to enactment its ain judgement aft taking up the lawsuit again, suo motu. It recovered that lone 1,048 Aravalli hills retired of a full 12,081 successful Rajasthan unsocial would conscionable the 100-metre elevation threshold and, consequently, the little ranges would beryllium “stripped off” the biology extortion owed to them, exposing them to unregulated mining. The tribunal had agreed that it would beryllium a “significant regulatory lacuna” successful safeguarding the Aravalli.
“This enactment shall stay successful effect until the contiguous proceedings scope a State of logical finality, ensuring that nary irreversible administrative oregon ecological actions are taken based connected the existent framework,” the tribunal had ordered connected December 29, 2025.
It had barred caller oregon renewed mining leases successful the Aravalli portion without anterior support of the apex court.
On Wednesday (January 21), however, elder advocator Kapil Sibal, for an intervenor, questioned the precise workout of trying to specify the Aravalli.
“Mountains cannot beryllium defined. The Himalayas cannot beryllium defined. These are sub-tectonic strata. If you effort to specify them, you volition tally into problems,” Mr. Sibal advised the court.
Chief Justice Kant admitted the involution exertion represented by Mr. Sibal, saying this was not an adversarial litigation, and views and ideas were welcome.
“We volition analyse each the pros and cons,” Chief Justice Kant remarked. The tribunal sought a broad enactment outlining the issues that needed to beryllium addressed.
The December 29, 2025 proceeding had seen the Bench suggest the constitution of a high-powered committee to analyse whether ‘sustainable mining’ oregon ‘regulated mining’ wrong the recently demarcated Aravalli areas, notwithstanding regulatory oversight, would effect successful immoderate adverse ecological consequences. The tribunal suggested that specified a committee could measure the areas nary longer covered by the definition, and specifically whether specified exclusions hazard their eventual erasure oregon degradation, thereby compromising the wide ecological integrity of the Aravalli range.
Several captious issues needed further clarification, the Bench said, including “whether the restrictive demarcation has inversely broadened the scope of ‘non-Aravalli’ areas, thereby facilitating the continuation of unregulated mining and different disruptive activities successful terrains that are ecologically contiguous but technically excluded by this definition”.
The tribunal had indicated that the explanation of the Aravalli Range indispensable beryllium arrived astatine lone aft exhaustive technological and geological estimations, and precise measurements of each the hills and hillocks. The definition, the tribunal had underscored, indispensable beryllium much nuanced and measured to support the “ecological integrity of the full range”.
The tribunal had said a explanation restricting the Aravalli Range to clusters wrong 500 metres of each different whitethorn present a “structural paradox” wherein the geographical scope of protected territory would beryllium importantly narrowed. The tribunal had questioned whether clusters with larger gaps but contiguous to the Aravalli terrain would beryllium past opened to unregulated mining and different “disruptive activities”, thereby causing and spreading extended harm to adjacent the protected areas.
