SC stays its own ruling on Aravalli

The Supreme Court Monday stayed its own November 20 verdict on what counts as Aravalli hills or ranges and proposed to appoint a fresh high-powered committee to re-examine the issue. The move, which drew instant applause from activists and opposition parties, freezes—at least for now—the Union government's controversial "100-metre rule". Under that criterion any land-form inside the notified Aravalli districts that rises less than 100 metre above the surrounding ground is excluded from the hill category and can be opened to mining. Forest Survey of India data show that of the 12,000-odd mapped hill features scattered across the Aravalli landscape fewer than 1,100 meet the 100-metre cut-off, leaving more than 90% of the range outside formal legal protection

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The Supreme Court Monday kept in abeyance the directions in its November 20 verdict that had accepted a uniform definition of the Aravalli hills and ranges.

A vacation bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices J K Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih proposed to constitute a high-powered committee comprising domain experts to undertake an exhaustive and holistic examination of the issue.