Supreme Court considers bigger public participation in defining Aravalli

The Supreme Court on Monday (May 25, 2026) said the expert committee to be constituted to define the Aravalli hills and ranges must ensure larger public participation through consultations with domain experts and stakeholders.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant was responding to submissions by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati that the Central Empowered Committee and the amicus curiae, senior advocate K. Parameshwar, had given common names to be included in the expert panel.

The court said the panel should not become unwieldy with too many members, rather it ought to be functional and collaborate extensively with domain experts.

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The Supreme Court intends to have the expert team not only define the Aravalli but also draw a road map for permissible activities, including the question of regulated mining in one of the oldest and ecologically-sensitive mountain systems in the world.

The court had said the committee would comprise experts from “different walks of life” like environmentalists, scientists, foresters and “special experts in regulated mining wherever the law permits”.

Chief Justice Kant had said the experts would work “under the umbrella” of the Supreme Court, directly under the court’s supervision and control.

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A previous Supreme Court judgment in November 2025, upholding a government committee’s definition of Aravalli, had led to public furore and apprehensions voiced about the ecological safety of the hill range. This definition had reduced the Aravalli to elevations of 100 metres or above and hill clusters, slopes and hillocks located within 500 metres of each other. 

But the court had to stay this judgment after taking up the case again suo motu. It had found that only 1,048 Aravalli hills out of a total 12,081 in Rajasthan alone would meet the 100-metre elevation threshold and, consequently, the lower ranges would be “stripped off” the environmental protection due to them, exposing them to unregulated mining. The court had agreed that it would be a “significant regulatory lacuna” in safeguarding the Aravalli.

“This stay shall remain in effect until the present proceedings reach a state of logical finality, ensuring that no irreversible administrative or ecological actions are taken based on the current framework,” the court had ordered on December 29.

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It had also barred fresh or renewed mining leases in the Aravalli region without prior permission of the apex court.