Supreme Court refuses extension for Aravalli panel, sets November 30 deadline for final report

While rejecting a six-month extension sought by a Supreme Court-appointed high-powered committee tasked with defining the Aravalli hills and range, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Monday (September 7, 2026) questioned whether it was “waiting for his retirement”. The court directed the panel to submit its final report by November 30, 2026.“They should have clearly asked for a date after my retirement... It appears they are waiting for my retirement. We are not going to allow this,” the Chief Justice told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre.CJI Kant is due to demit office on February 9, 2027.Also Read | Rights groups call for overhaul in hearings by Supreme Court-appointed panel on AravallisThe Bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, made it clear that no further extension would be granted, and directed the five-member panel, headed by Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education Director General Kanchan Devi, to “work day and night” to finalise its recommendations. The committee has been tasked with evolving a uniform definition of the ecologically fragile Aravalli hills and range, and recommending measures to regulate future mining.“The high-powered committee has sought an extension till February 28, 2027... We reject this plea,” the Bench recorded in its order, directing the committee to “work day and night and submit its final report by November 30, 2026”.The court asked the committee to submit interim reports on specific issues requiring immediate consideration, without waiting for the entire exercise to be completed. It also directed the panel to hear all stakeholders, including tribal communities in Rajasthan and Gujarat, before finalising its recommendations.The matter will be heard next on December 2, by which time the committee is expected to have submitted its final report.The Aravalli range forms a natural barrier between the arid desert regions in the northwest and the fertile northern plains. The Supreme Court has been regulating mining in the region since 2002. In 2018, a Forest Survey of India report drew attention to the scale of illegal mining, recording the disappearance of 31 hillocks across nearly 3,000 sites in Rajasthan and Haryana.In November 2025, the top court accepted a common definition of the Aravalli hills and range proposed by an eight-member committee headed by the Union Environment Secretary. Under the definition, a landform in an Aravalli district rising 100 metres or more above the local relief would qualify as an Aravalli hill, while two or more such hills located within 500 metres of each other would constitute the Aravalli range.The definition, however, triggered widespread concern that large parts of the Aravalli landscape could fall outside its ambit, potentially opening them up to mining and threatening the region’s ecology. On December 29, 2025, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of these concerns and kept its November order in abeyance. It also barred the grant of new mining leases and the renewal of existing ones.In May, the court constituted the high-powered committee with a broader mandate to undertake a scientific assessment of the Aravalli landscape, recommend a uniform definition, and examine the ecological consequences of mining and development in the region.Also Read | Environmentalists write to Supreme Court committee about ‘inadequate’ public consultation on AravallisIn its interim report submitted on August 31, 2026 the committee said its work so far indicated that the Aravallis could not be adequately defined on the basis of a single criterion relating to terrain or elevation. It said it was undertaking assessments that covered spatial, ecological, geological, hydrological, and socio-economic factors, along with inputs from stakeholders.Seeking time until February 28, 2027, the committee said it needed additional datasets, field verification, and expert inputs before completing its work.The five-member committee is headed by Ms. Devi, and comprises former Environment Ministry Joint Secretary Brij Mohan Singh Rathore, former Delhi University Professor of Botany Ashok K. Bhatnagar, former Forest Survey of India Director General Subhash Ashutosh, and former Geological Survey of India Director Rajendra Kumar Sharma. Professors Jagdish Krishnaswamy and Laxmikant Sharma are special invitees.