Aravalli Hills dispute: Supreme Court puts stay on its own order, new committee will be formed

New Delhi, 29 December. The Supreme Court has stayed its own order defining the Aravalli mountain range. The next hearing in this case will be on January 21. A three-judge bench headed by CJI Surya Kant, while hearing a case related to the Aravalli Hills dispute on Monday, said that the decision given on November 20 will not be implemented till the next hearing. In this sequence, the court has issued notice to the central and state governments and sought their response.

Issued notice to central and state governments and sought answers

CJI Surya Kant said that a new committee will be formed to study and survey the Aravalli hills. He said that it has to be reconsidered whether considering only the hills higher than 100 meters as part of Aravali will lead to illegal mining. A definition has to be fixed to identify the areas which are not part of Aravali.

The court had decided on the new definition of Aravalli hills on 20th November.

It is noteworthy that on November 20, the Supreme Court had approved the uniform definition of Aravalli hills and mountain ranges. The court had put a stay on mining leases in this mountain range extending to Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat till the report of experts comes.

The biggest controversy regarding Aravali is regarding its geographical extent and definition. Due to lack of clear definition of hills, rules regarding construction work and mining are often violated. Earlier, the Court had decided against imposing a complete ban on mining in Aravali. The Court believed that such a prohibition could lead to illegal mining activities.

what was the new definition,

The court had accepted the recommendations of a committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. According to the committee, ‘Aravalli Hills’ will be defined as any landform present in the identified Aravalli districts, the height of which is 100 meters or more above the local lowest point. At the same time, ‘Aravalli Range’ will be a group of two or more such hills within 500 meters of each other.