Overview
- The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance and listed a special vacation bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant to examine the elevation-based criteria for defining the Aravallis.
- The Union environment ministry has imposed a freeze on new mining leases across the range until a court‑mandated Management Plan for Sustainable Mining is completed.
- Government records show the Survey of India was instructed on December 17 to delineate hills using the 100‑metre local‑relief test, while ICFRE was tasked to draft the mining plan and flag additional no‑go zones.
- The court‑accepted definition treats as Aravalli only landforms rising at least 100 metres above surrounding terrain, grouping two or more such hills within 500 metres as a range, a shift critics say will exclude large swathes of the system.
- Environmental experts and opposition groups have mounted protests, with some estimates suggesting qualifying hills could be under 10% of the range, as the environment minister counters that controls remain strict and misinformation is being spread.