NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said it will not pass any order in favor of mining lease holders for the time being as it has received “extremely disturbing” feedback regarding mining in the Aravalli Hills and Range.
The Supreme Court said there were specific environmental issues and in February had asked the environment ministry and other stakeholders to suggest names of experts in the field to form a committee to identify the Aravalli hills and ranges.
“We will not hear this matter piecemeal. We will not allow any activity unless we are completely satisfied,” a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalia Bagchi said after the matter, which was listed for hearing on Friday, was mentioned.
The Supreme Court is hearing a suo motu case titled “In Reply: Definition of Aravalli Hills and Ranges and the Additional Question”.
“A lot of things are happening there. We are getting feedback which is very disturbing,” the CJI observed.
The court told the lawyer who mentioned the matter that if any mining lease is cancelled, the concerned party may appeal it.
“We will not issue any order in favor of mining lease holders now. This is a sensitive issue,” the council said.
On November 20, 2025, the Supreme Court accepted a uniform definition of the Aravalli Hills and Ranges and prohibited the award of new mining contracts within their areas extending across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat until expert reports were issued.
It accepted the recommendations of the ministry’s committee on defining the Aravalli hills and ranges to protect the world’s oldest mountain system.
The committee recommended that an ‘Aravalli hill’ be defined as any landform in the designated Aravalli areas 100 meters or more above its local topography, and the ‘Aravalli range’ would be a group of two or more such hills at a distance of 500 meters from each other.
On December 29, the Supreme Court took note of the protests over the new definition of Aravalis and kept pending its November 20 directions accepting a uniform definition of hills and ranges. It also stopped all mining activities.
It noted that “crucial ambiguities” needed to be resolved, including whether a 100-metre height standard and a 500-metre gap between hills would strip a significant portion of the scope of environmental protections.
Earlier, the apex court said that prima facie it appears that the committee’s earlier report and the ruling “neglected to explicitly state some crucial issues” and that there is an “urgent need for further investigation” to prevent any regulatory loopholes that may undermine the ecological integrity of the Aravalli region.
It also directed that, as stipulated in the May 9, 2024 order, no permission for mining in the “Aravalli Hills and Ranges”, as defined in the FSI report issued on August 25, 2010, will be granted without its prior permission.
“There has been a significant outcry among environmentalists, who have expressed deep concern about the potential for misinterpretation and improper implementation of the newly adopted definition and directions of this court,” the bench said.
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