Overview
- The bench constituted a court‑supervised expert committee to conduct an exhaustive review of mining and related issues in the Aravallis and extended the abeyance of its November 20 order accepting a uniform definition.
- Chief Justice Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, asked the government and the amicus to submit names of environmentalists and mining scientists within four weeks.
- The court noted reports of scattered illegal mining and recorded the Rajasthan government’s assurance that no unauthorised extraction will take place.
- Environmental groups say the proposed criteria could exclude up to 90% of hill features from protection, while the government contends less than 0.2% would be eligible for mining and has paused new leases pending a sustainable plan.
- The disputed definition labels a hill as rising at least 100 metres above local relief and a range as two or more such hills within 500 metres, a framing discussed alongside nearby lithium and rare‑earth prospects.