SC to Hear Suo Motu Case on Aravalli Hills on Monday

PTI, NEW DELHI, DEC 28, 2025: Amid a row over the definition of the Aravalli hills approved by it, the Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the issue and is slated to hear the matter on Monday. As per the cause list, a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices J. K. Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih is likely to hear the matter. The case is titled as In Re: Definition of Aravalli Hills and Ranges and Ancillary Issues.

The top court on November 20 had accepted a uniform definition of the Aravalli hills and ranges and banned the grant of fresh mining leases inside its areas spanning Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat until experts’ reports are out. The apex court had accepted the recommendations of a committee of MoEF&CC (Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change) on the definition of Aravalli hills and ranges to protect the world’s oldest mountain system.

The committee recommended that "Aravalli Hill" will be defined as any landform in designated Aravalli districts with an elevation of 100 metres or more above its local relief and an "Aravalli Range" will be a collection of two or more such hills within 500 metres of each other. The committee, while defining Aravalli hills, said, "Any landform located in the Aravalli districts, having an elevation of 100 metres or more from the local relief, shall be termed as Aravalli Hills... The entire landform lying within the area enclosed by such lowest contour, whether actual or extended notionally, together with the Hill, its supporting slopes, and associated landforms irrespective of their gradient, shall be deemed to constitute part of the Aravalli Hills."

The panel also defined the Aravalli Range and said, "Two or more Aravalli Hills, located within the proximity of 500m from each other, measured from the outermost point on the boundary of the lowest contour line on either side, form the Aravalli Range." The area between the two Aravalli hills is determined by first creating buffers with a width equal to the minimum distance between the lowest contour lines of both hills. 

"The entire area of landforms falling between the lowest contour lines of these hills, as explained, along with associated features such as hills, hillocks, supporting slopes, etc., shall also be included as part of the Aravalli Range."