Supreme Court takes suo motu note of Aravalli issue; case hearing on Dec 29

The development comes days after the Centre ordered a complete ban on new mining leases across the region

The Supreme Court on Saturday took suo motu cognisance of mining in the Aravalli Hills and scheduled a hearing for Monday, LiveLaw reported. The development comes days after the Centre ordered a complete ban on granting new mining leases across the region.

 

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant is slated to take up the suo motu proceedings, the report said.

 

According to India Today, former forest conservation officer R P Balwan has also moved the apex court on the issue.

Centre imposes a complete ban on new mining leases

The hearing follows fresh directions issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), which on Wednesday asked all concerned states to enforce a complete ban on granting any new mining leases across the Aravalli range, stretching from Delhi to Gujarat.

 

 

The ministry stated that the prohibition would apply uniformly across the entire Aravalli range and was aimed at protecting the integrity of the ancient geological formation by curbing illegal and unregulated mining activities.

 

The Environment Ministry later issued a detailed clarification, stating that no new mining leases would be permitted until a comprehensive study was conducted, in line with the Supreme Court’s order dated November 20.

Supreme Court’s previous stand on the Aravalli definition

Earlier, the Supreme Court accepted the Centre’s definition of the Aravalli Hills, which said hills in the range with an elevation of less than 100 metres would not fall under strict mining restrictions.

 

The apex court also accepted recommendations related to sustainable mining in the Aravallis and endorsed steps proposed to prevent illegal mining activities.

 

On Tuesday, the court directed the ministry to prepare a Mining Plan for Sustainable Mining (MPSM) for the entire Aravalli range before allowing any new mining activity.

 

With the definition now operational, the court ordered that no fresh mining leases be issued until the MPSM is finalised, a move officials described as a preventive safeguard against immediate ecological damage.

 

The Aravalli Hills form a 670-kilometre-long mountain range in north-western India, extending from Delhi through Haryana and Rajasthan and ending in Gujarat.

 

The highest elevation in the range is 1,722 metres. The highest peak, Guru Shikhar, is located in Mount Abu in Rajasthan.

 

The Aravallis are the oldest fold mountain range in India, with a geological history dating back nearly two billion years, making conservation of the region a long-standing environmental concern.