Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Monday questioned whether or not a high-powered committee constituted by the Supreme Court to reach at a uniform definition of the Aravalli hills and vary was searching for to stretch the train past his tenure, because the court docket rejected its request for time till February 28, 2027, and directed it to submit its remaining report by November 30.
“They need to have clearly requested for a date after my retirement… seems they’re ready for my retirement. We aren’t going to permit this,” the CJI advised extra solicitor normal Aishwarya Bhati, who appeared for the Centre. CJI Kant demits workplace on February 9, 2027.
Bench denies extension to Aravalli committee
A bench headed by the CJI and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana directed the five-member panel, headed by Indian Council of Forestry Analysis and Training (ICFRE) director normal Kanchan Devi, to “work day and evening” and meet the contemporary deadline. The court docket made clear that no additional extension could be granted.
“The high-powered committee has sought an extension until February 28, 2027, with the primary stroke of the pen. We reject this plea… the HPC is directed to work day and evening and submit its remaining report by November 30, 2026. We make it clear that no additional extension shall be granted,” the bench stated in its order.
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The court docket, nevertheless, acknowledged the complexity of the train and directed the committee to submit interim experiences on particular points as and when its examination progresses. These experiences, it stated, would enable the court docket to resolve particular person questions with out ready for your complete train to conclude.
The committee’s request for a six-month extension got here after it advised the court docket that its work had proven that the Aravalli panorama couldn’t be adequately outlined utilizing a single terrain-based or elevation criterion.
Row over defining Aravalli hills
In an interim report filed on August 31, the panel stated it was inspecting spatial, ecological, geological, hydrological, biodiversity, socio-economic and stakeholder proof earlier than arriving at its conclusions. Discipline visits and interactions with stakeholders had raised questions on ecosystem well being, land-use change, hydrological methods, biodiversity, mining-induced vulnerability and panorama connectivity, it stated.
The Supreme Court docket’s insistence on a time-bound train comes towards the backdrop of the controversy that erupted over the sooner definition of the Aravalli hills accepted by the highest court docket in November 2025. An earlier committee constituted by the Union setting ministry had proposed {that a} landform within the Aravalli districts with an elevation of at the least 100 metres from the native reduction would qualify as an Aravalli hill, whereas two or extra such hills inside 500 metres of one another would represent an Aravalli vary.
The definition triggered criticism from environmentalists and different stakeholders, who warned that enormous parts of the ecologically fragile panorama may fall exterior the regulatory ambit and turn out to be weak to mining and different actions. The Supreme Court docket subsequently took suo motu cognisance of the controversy. On December 29, 2025, it stored its November judgment in abeyance and ordered a contemporary examination by a high-powered skilled panel.
The December order had questioned whether or not a height-based definition may adequately seize the ecological continuity of the Aravallis, together with areas between hills and hillocks. It additionally questioned the scientific foundation of a broadly circulated declare that just one,048 of 12,081 hills in Rajasthan met the 100-metre threshold, and whether or not a extra exhaustive geological and scientific evaluation was required.
The court docket has since stored an entire halt on mining within the Aravalli area pending the result of the contemporary train and its consideration by the court docket.
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Pushes to listen to all stakeholders
Whereas rejecting the extension on Monday, the bench pressured that the committee should hear all affected stakeholders. It particularly directed the panel to listen to tribal communities in Rajasthan and Gujarat, moreover the governments of Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana, environmentalists, non-profit organisations, mining lease holders, undertaking proponents, villagers, farmers and native communities whose livelihoods are linked to the Aravalli ecosystem.
The court docket stated the eventual plan of action have to be based mostly on scientific proof and according to environmental safety and sustainable improvement. The committee’s mandate, subsequently, extends past drawing a technical boundary across the hills and ranges to inspecting the broader ecological and socio-economic character of the panorama.
The panel’s interim evaluation has described the Aravallis as a largely linked panorama with interlinked ecological, hydrological, biodiversity and socio-cultural values. It stated the vary contains a community of small and enormous ridges and hill formations, many displaying continuity or shut spatial relationships. Even remoted hills and hillocks, it stated, might have biodiversity, hydrological, ecological, aesthetic or cultural significance.
The committee has consequently recommended that the Aravallis be assessed alongside forests, protected areas, sacred websites, Orans and conventional pastures, wetlands, crucial catchments, groundwater recharge zones and areas of archaeological significance, moreover ecological corridors connecting with adjoining landscapes.
The panel is enterprise geospatial assessments and evaluating its methodology with the Forest Survey of India (FSI)’s 2010 work and the conclusions of the sooner Centre-constituted committee. It has proposed validation by specialised companies, together with the Nationwide Distant Sensing Centre and the Indian Space Research Organisation, saying estimates of the realm and variety of hills may have important ecological, regulatory and socio-economic penalties.
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The five-member HPC contains Kanchan Devi, former MoEFCC joint secretary Brij Mohan Singh Rathore, former Delhi College botany professor Ashok Ok Bhatnagar, former FSI director normal Subhash Ashutosh and former Geological Survey of India director Rajendra Kumar Sharma. Jagdish Krishnaswamy, dean of the College of Surroundings and Sustainability on the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, and Laxmikant Sharma, professor on the Central College of Haryana, are particular invitees.
The court docket has fastened December 2 for additional consideration, by when the committee is predicted to have begun submitting its issue-specific interim findings.