What Happened
- The Supreme Court constituted a 10-member High Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) in March 2026 to redefine the Aravalli hills — a decision that followed the Court's December 2025 stay on its own November 2025 order that had approved a definition allowing large swathes of the range to be opened to mining.
- The HPEC has been tasked with scientifically assessing what constitutes the Aravalli Hills and Ranges, including evaluating whether the contested "100-metre elevation criterion" is scientifically sound.
- The committee faces serious credibility concerns: it lacks wildlife and GIS experts, its convenor heads a programme currently under litigation for violating a Supreme Court order, and the ministry that submitted a mining-favourable definition retains authority over HPEC member nominations.
- The fundamental question before the panel — and the basis of the article — is whether a committee constituted without independent ecological expertise can genuinely prioritise conservation.
Static Topic Bridges
The Aravalli Range — Ecological and Geological Significance
The Aravallis are among Earth's oldest mountain ranges, estimated to be approximately 670 million years old, making them older than the Himalayas by over 600 million years. Stretching approximately 692 km from Gujarat through Rajasthan, Haryana, and into Delhi, the range performs critical ecological functions: it acts as a natural barrier slowing the eastward advance of the Thar Desert, recharges groundwater aquifers for Delhi and Haryana, regulates micro-climates, and supports significant biodiversity including tribal communities (Bhil, Meena, Garasia) dependent on the range for water, fodder, and livelihoods.
- Length: ~692 km from Gujarat (Palanpur) to Delhi (Raisina Hill).
- Geological classification: Precambrian fold mountains — among the world's oldest.
- Ecological role: desert barrier, groundwater recharge zone (critical for Delhi NCR), wildlife corridor connecting forests of Rajasthan and Haryana.
- Strategic minerals found: lithium, graphite, tungsten (critical for clean energy); base metals: zinc, copper, lead.
- Tribal communities — Bhil, Meena, Garasia — have historically depended on the range and have actively opposed mining.
Connection to this news: The definition of what constitutes "Aravalli Hills" is not an administrative technicality — it determines which land receives legal forest protection and which can be opened to mining. The 100-metre elevation criterion, if adopted, would leave approximately 90% of the range unprotected.
Supreme Court's Role in Environmental Governance — The Continuing Mandamus
India's Supreme Court has exercised a distinctive form of judicial intervention in environmental cases through the device of the "continuing mandamus" — an order that remains in force and is periodically reviewed, converting the Court into a long-term supervisor of executive action. This emerged prominently in the T.N. Godavarman Thirumalpad v. Union of India case (1995), where the Court issued a series of orders over decades regulating forest felling, mining, and compensatory afforestation. The Godavarman case established that "forest" must be interpreted in its dictionary and ecological sense — not limited to notified forests — a principle directly relevant to Aravalli protection.
- T.N. Godavarman case (1995): Supreme Court directed that no felling of trees in any forest (regardless of ownership or notification status) could occur without prior permission; introduced the concept of Net Present Value (NPV) for forest land diversion.
- Continuing mandamus: Court appoints technical bodies (like the Central Empowered Committee) and monitors compliance over years/decades.
- Central Empowered Committee (CEC): constituted by the Supreme Court under the Godavarman case to assist it in forest and wildlife matters; plays a quasi-judicial advisory role.
- The Lafarge order (2011) further clarified that any unclassed/unrecorded forest land meeting the ecological definition of "forest" is entitled to protection.
Connection to this news: The Aravalli case is being heard as a continuation of the Godavarman monitoring jurisdiction. The CEC proposed the HPEC members, and the Court is now attempting to bring scientific rigour to a definition that has been disputed between states and the Centre for decades.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Mining Governance
Mining in ecologically sensitive areas in India is regulated through the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act) and its 2021 amendment, the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 (recently amended as Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samridhi) Adhiniyam, 2023), and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Before any mining lease is granted in a forest or ecologically sensitive area, an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) under the EIA Notification, 2006 is mandatory. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the precautionary principle must govern decisions in ecological uncertainty.
- EIA Notification 2006 (under EP Act 1986): mandates public hearing, baseline data collection, and Environment Management Plans for mining projects.
- MMDR Amendment Act 2021: introduced auction-only regime for mining leases, extended lease periods, and created provisions for captive and non-captive mines.
- Forest Conservation Act 1980 (now Van Adhiniyam 2023): requires prior approval from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for any diversion of forest land for non-forest use.
- Aravalli Notification 1992 (Punjab Land Preservation Act, PLPA): designated Aravalli areas in Haryana as protected — its interpretation has been a long-running dispute.
Connection to this news: The contested "definition" of the Aravallis is functionally a gatekeeping question for EIA and forest clearance requirements. A narrow definition (100-metre elevation) effectively exempts large tracts from mandatory EIA, MoEFCC clearance, and Supreme Court monitoring.
Institutional Bias and the Principle of Independent Expert Panels
A recurring theme in India's environmental governance is the conflict between developmental ministries (which issue clearances) and conservation goals. The MoEFCC simultaneously regulates industry and protects forests — a structural tension. Supreme Court-appointed panels are meant to provide independent scientific input, but their value depends on their composition being free from institutional conflicts of interest. The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) under the Forest Conservation Act has been criticised for high approval rates on forest diversion proposals, reflecting similar concerns about independence.
- The Aravalli Expert Committee (AEC) that submitted the controversial definition comprised only government secretaries — no independent ecologists, wildlife experts, or geologists.
- MoEFCC retains authority to nominate HPEC members — the same ministry that endorsed the AEC's mining-favourable definition.
- The National Green Tribunal (NGT), established under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, is an independent judicial body for environmental disputes; however, the Aravalli case has remained with the Supreme Court rather than being transferred to NGT.
- Precautionary principle (Rio Declaration, Principle 15): "Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation." Indian courts have cited this repeatedly.
Connection to this news: The article raises the structural governance concern: that a panel constituted by processes dominated by a ministry with developmental interests cannot independently prioritise conservation — regardless of what its terms of reference say.
Key Facts & Data
- Aravalli range: ~670 million years old (Precambrian), ~692 km long, spans Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi.
- November 2025 SC order: adopted 100-metre elevation criterion — would leave ~90% of range unprotected per Forest Survey of India.
- Forest Survey of India's 2010 definition: 3-degree slope parameter (protected ~40% of range).
- HPEC constituted: March 2026 — 10 members; lacks wildlife expert and GIS specialist.
- T.N. Godavarman case (1995): established ecological definition of "forest"; CEC constituted under this case.
- Strategic minerals in Aravallis: lithium, graphite, tungsten, zinc, copper, lead.
- Forest Conservation Act, 1980 (now Van Adhiniyam, 2023): requires MoEFCC prior approval for forest land diversion.
- Tribal communities — Bhil, Meena, Garasia — dependent on Aravalli ecosystem for livelihoods; have formally opposed mining.
- Precautionary principle: Principle 15, Rio Declaration (1992) — binding interpretive framework in Indian environmental jurisprudence.