Supreme Court considers bigger public participation in defining Aravalli

📌 Summary:

• The Supreme Court, in a Bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, said on May 25, 2026 that 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
• The Court directed that the panel stay compact and functional rather than unwieldy, and collaborate extensively with domain experts; it will comprise environmentalists, scientists, foresters and experts in regulated mining, working directly under the Court's supervision and control
• Mandate of the expert team: not only to define the Aravalli but also to draw a road map for permissible activities, including the question of regulated mining in one of the world's oldest and most ecologically sensitive mountain systems
• Background: a November 2025 Supreme Court judgment had upheld a government committee's definition restricting the Aravalli to elevations of 100 metres or above, plus hill clusters, slopes and hillocks located within 500 metres of each other
• The Court stayed its own judgment suo motu after finding that only 1,048 of Rajasthan's 12,081 Aravalli hills would meet the 100-metre threshold — leaving lower ranges "stripped" of environmental protection and exposed to unregulated mining, a "significant regulatory lacuna"
• The December 29 order keeps the stay in effect until the case reaches "logical finality" and bars fresh or renewed mining leases in the Aravalli region without prior Supreme Court permission

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Environment — conservation of ecologically sensitive landscapes, regulation of mining, and the role of the judiciary and expert committees in environmental governance.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• The Aravalli Range is one of the world's oldest fold mountain systems, extending across Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat
• The disputed definition restricted "Aravalli" to elevations of 100 m or above and hill features within 500 m of each other
• Of 12,081 Aravalli hills in Rajasthan, only 1,048 would meet the 100-m threshold
• The matter is before a Bench headed by CJI Surya Kant; the amicus curiae is senior advocate K. Parameshwar, and the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) is involved

🔑 Key Term: Central Empowered Committee (CEC) — a body that assists the Supreme Court in monitoring and implementing its orders on forest and environmental matters.