Discuss the ecological significance of the Aravalli Hills and critically examine the Supreme Court's evolving approach to defining them for regulatory purposes.

Q. Discuss the ecological significance of the Aravalli Hills and critically examine the Supreme Court's evolving approach to defining them for regulatory purposes. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Among the world's oldest fold mountains, the Aravallis run through Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, yet their protection long suffered from the absence of a uniform legal definition — a gap the Supreme Court, acting suo motu, is still working to close.

Ecological significance - Anti-desertification barrier: checks the eastward advance of the Thar Desert into the Indo-Gangetic plain [1]. - Groundwater recharge: foothills and valleys form critical recharge zones for a water-stressed Delhi-NCR [1]. - Biodiversity habitat: slopes, ridges and intervening areas sustain flora, fauna and wildlife movement [1]. - Green lungs of NCR: regulate air quality and local climate for a heavily polluted urban region [1].

Judicial approach — strengths - Filling a regulatory vacuum: the Court directed a MoEFCC-led committee — with Forest Survey of India, Geological Survey of India, the Central Empowered Committee and four State forest secretaries — to frame a uniform definition for regulating mining [1]. - Science-based criteria: the order of 20.11.2025 accepted landforms rising 100 m or more above local relief as hills, clustering hills within 500 m into ranges, so valleys and smaller hillocks also gain cover [1]. - Precautionary interim relief: a freeze on new mining leases pending a Mining Plan for Sustainable Mining, with absolute prohibition in protected areas, eco-sensitive zones and wetlands [1]. - Participatory correction: the High-Powered Committee (constituted 25.05.2026) invited public and stakeholder representations, reporting before 31.08.2026 [3].

Weaknesses - Definitional instability: the 20.11.2025 order was stayed on 29.12.2025 and remitted to a fresh expert body, leaving regulators without settled criteria [2]. - Institutional substitution: land-use and definitional policy is properly executive-legislative work; successive court-appointed committees mask statutory inaction. - Threshold rigidity: a fixed elevation cut-off risks excluding lower but ecologically vital formations. - Federal friction: four States with divergent mining and revenue interests must converge on one standard.

The Court has rightly moved from ad-hoc protection towards a scientific, landscape-level definition, even if by trial and error. The durable step is to codify the Committee's criteria in a notification under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, backed by geo-mapping on Survey of India sheets — so that Aravalli conservation, and India's land-degradation-neutrality commitment, rest on law rather than litigation.

(~325 words)

Sources: 1. Aravalli Hills: Protecting Ecology and Ensuring Sustainable Development — PIB Factsheet, MoEFCC — ecological functions; committee composition; 100 m / 500 m definition; mining prohibitions and lease freeze pending MPSM 2. Supreme Court of India, Order dated 29.12.2025, In Re: Definition of Aravalli Hills and Ranges (Suo Motu W.P. (C) No. 10 of 2025) — stay of the 20.11.2025 definitional order and reference to a fresh expert committee 3. Press Information Bureau, MoEFCC Press Note (21.07.2026): Supreme Court-constituted High-Powered Committee invites responses from the public on the Aravalli Hills and Ranges — HPC constituted 25.05.2026, public consultation, report due before 31.08.2026