UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — SC refuses extension for Aravalli panel to submit final report

Q1. The five-member High-Powered Committee constituted by the Supreme Court in May 2026 to re-examine the definition of the Aravalli hills and range is headed by the serving head of which one of the following organisations?

  • A. Forest Survey of India, Dehradun
  • B. Geological Survey of India, Kolkata
  • C. Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun
  • D. Central Empowered Committee, New Delhi

Q2. The principal task assigned to the Supreme Court's High-Powered Committee on the Aravallis, constituted in May 2026, is best described as which one of the following?

  • A. To furnish an independent expert re-examination of the uniform definition and delineation of the Aravalli hills and range
  • B. To prepare the Management Plan for Sustainable Mining for the entire Aravalli range and grant fresh mining leases
  • C. To identify and map all lands notified under Sections 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900, as forests
  • D. To adjudicate the compensation claims of lessees affected by the mining ban imposed in the Aravallis in 2009

Q3. Which one of the following statements about the origin of the contested uniform definition of the 'Aravalli hills and range' is correct?

  • A. It was accepted by the Supreme Court in its judgment of 20 November 2025 on the recommendations of a committee steered by the Union Environment Ministry
  • B. It was framed by the National Green Tribunal and merely taken on record by the Supreme Court without any judicial approval of its contents
  • C. It was notified exclusively by the four Aravalli States acting jointly, with no participation by any central scientific or regulatory agency
  • D. It has been binding on every State since the Aravalli Notification of 1992 and has never once been reconsidered in any judicial proceeding

Q4. In the contested uniform definition of the Aravallis, the figure of '500 metres' stands for which one of the following?

  • A. The minimum horizontal separation between two Aravalli hills beyond which they are read as forming one continuous range
  • B. The maximum distance from one another within which two or more Aravalli hills are treated as part of the Aravalli Range
  • C. The width of the buffer around the Aravalli hill range in which green cover is to be raised under the Aravalli Green Wall Project
  • D. The minimum elevation above the local relief that a landform in an Aravalli district must have to qualify as an Aravalli hill

Q5. The Aravalli Green Wall Project covers how many districts across the four Aravalli States?

  • A. 19
  • B. 23
  • C. 29
  • D. 35

Q6. In the Supreme Court's order of September 2026 concerning the Aravalli High-Powered Committee, the date 30 November 2026 signifies which one of the following?

  • A. The outer limit for submission of the Committee's final comprehensive report, beyond which no further time is to be granted
  • B. The date on which the Aravalli matter is to be next listed for hearing before the Bench headed by the Chief Justice
  • C. The date by which the Committee had originally been required to submit its comprehensive report to the Supreme Court
  • D. The date up to which the Court's own uniform definition of the Aravallis was directed to remain in abeyance

Q7. Consider the following statements about the change in timelines ordered by the Supreme Court for the Aravalli High-Powered Committee: 1. The Committee's original deadline for its comprehensive report was 31 August 2026, and it thereafter sought a further six months. 2. The Court eventually allowed it roughly three months beyond that original deadline and listed the matter next for 2 December 2026. 3. While extending the time, the Court recorded that a further extension could be sought if field validation remained incomplete. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The Committee's original deadline for its comprehensive report was 31 August 2026, and it thereafter sought a further six months.
  2. The Court eventually allowed it roughly three months beyond that original deadline and listed the matter next for 2 December 2026.
  3. While extending the time, the Court recorded that a further extension could be sought if field validation remained incomplete.
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q8. In the Aravalli order of 7 September 2026, the Bench's warning that it would 'reconstitute the whole panel' conveyed which one of the following consequences?

  • A. That the sitting High-Powered Committee would be replaced by a freshly appointed expert body if it failed to report within the time fixed
  • B. That the Committee's report would be routed to the Central Empowered Committee for a second opinion before the Court accepted it
  • C. That the Committee would be enlarged by inducting its two special invitees from academic institutions as full voting members
  • D. That the Aravalli proceedings would be placed before a larger Bench of the Supreme Court for a fresh consideration of the definition

Q9. The headquarters of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, whose Director General heads the Aravalli High-Powered Committee, is located at which one of the following places?

  • A. Jodhpur, where its arid-zone forestry research institute functions
  • B. Jorhat, where its rain and moist deciduous forests institute functions
  • C. Coimbatore, where its forest genetics and tree breeding institute functions
  • D. Dehradun, where its forest research institute also functions