New Delhi: Denying a high-powered committee looking into the definition of Aravallis a six-month extension to submit its report, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant remarked Monday that the request made it seem like the Supreme Court-appointed panel was waiting for his retirement.
“The committee has basically asked for an adjournment till my retirement,” CJI Surya Kant said during the hearing. He instructed its members to “work day and night” and submit their report within two months, adding that if the panel felt it was incapable, it should inform the bench, which would reconstitute it.
The committee had requested the six-month extension citing the need to hear all stakeholders, including tribal communities in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Such an extension would have meant that the deadline for submission would be some time around the end of February 2027. The CJI is sent to retire on 9 February next year.
The Supreme Court had constituted this high-powered committee to examine the definition of the Aravallis after an apex court ruling—that only hills measuring 100 metres or above in height would qualify as part of the 650-km-long northwest India mountain range—sparking widespread concern. The Supreme Court then stayed its own order, and appointed the five-member high powered committee in May this year.
The CJI Monday said that submitting the report was in everyone’s interest so that “whatever is permissible can be permitted, and whatever is impermissible cannot be permitted”.
The bench, consisting of CJI Kant, Justices Joymala Bagchi and V Mohana directed the committee to hand in its report by 30 November instead. It also directed the panel to submit an interim report in the meantime by “segregating the issues” so they could be addressed on priority.
In her response, Additional Solicitor-General Aishwarya Bhati, who represented the Centre, informed the court that while an interim report had already been prepared, more time was required to hear all concerned parties.
The uproar over Aravalli 100-m definition
The Supreme Court had set up the five-member committee in May to formulate and determine a uniform definition and demarcation of the environmentally delicate Aravalli range for regulating future mining activities. It had also directed the committee to submit a conservation report by 31 August.
In November last year, there were large-scale protests in Gurugram and Udaipur after the SC redefined the Aravalli hills—one of the world’s oldest geological formations—as any landform rising at least 328 feet (100 metres) above the surrounding terrain, with two or more such hills within 500 metres of each other defined as a range.
Critics, environmentalists and opposition parties argued that the court’s definition was faulty as it left numerous lower, scrub-covered but ecologically vulnerable hills exposed to wide-scale mining and construction activities. These lower hills, they argued, had been crucial in preventing desertification, recharging groundwater and supporting livelihoods for ages.
The Congress has spoken out against the Supreme Court’s decision to refuse the committee an extension, with Jairam Ramesh saying the apex court had “unfortunately and inexplicably” denied the panel’s “most justifiable request”.
The matter will be heard next on 2 December.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: What are the Aravallis? The decades-long quest to define a 2-billion-year-old range