New Delhi: Three recent decisions by the Supreme Court pertaining to the environment, including its green light for the controversial new definition for the Aravallis, raise the fear that the top court as the “last bastion” for the protection of nature “is crumbling before the onslaught of rich and powerful vested interests”, a collective of former civil servants has said.In an open letter posted on Sunday (December 28), the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) wrote of its “deep anguish” over three of the top court’s decisions that it said “have set aside the rules and regulations put in place to safeguard our country’s environment and ecology”.One of these was the court’s decision to accept a new, uniform definition for the Aravallis – which would only include those hills that are 100 metres above the local relief – on November 20 that was prepared by a committee comprising eight Union government officials.Environmentalists and activists have alleged that the new definition will open up a large part of the hill range to commercial activities such as mining.The CCG echoed this view. The activities that the new definition could pave the way for will negate the Aravallis’ function as a dust barrier for the Delhi area, advance desertification towards the capital, result in habitat loss and fragmentation, degrade regional flora and “demolish” the hills’ role as an aquifer, the open letter signed by 79 ex-civil servants, including two retired Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officers, said.Increased mining in the Aravallis would exacerbate the poor air quality in and around Delhi, the CCG warned. “It will amount to state driven carnage, which will predominantly impact the most marginalised people of Delhi-NCR who do not have the luxury of air purifiers and have to work outdoors in such noxious conditions.”The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the controversy over the new definition and is scheduled to hold a hearing on Monday.Another of the court’s decisions that the CCG expressed dismay over was its November 18 order recalling a previous one from May this year in which it had said that after-the-fact environmental clearances for construction projects constituted a “gross illegality”.Noting that the issue stands to be settled by a larger bench of the court, the CCG hoped that the earlier decision of May would be restored. “The extreme climate events that are sweeping across the country and the worst ever air pollution levels in Delhi-NCR and north India should surely cause sufficient concern in the Supreme Court to warrant an early hearing,” it said.Finally, the court’s November 22 decision enjoining the government from disbanding the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) without its permission was the third matter the CCG brought up in its letter.Recalling that the CEC was formed in 2002 on the top court’s insistence to keep a track of its judgments on forests, wildlife and conservation, the CCG alleged that the committee has “become a panel under the influence” of the Union environment ministry, “entirely supporting all government action, regardless of how harmful it is to the environment”.A CEC official was part of the eight-member committee that drafted the new definition of the Aravallis, the CCG noted.It had also raised concerns over the CEC’s impartiality in an open letter in July, noting then that the government had altered its composition to comprise only retired bureaucrats by removing its two independent members.“We reiterate our request for the reconstitution of the CEC with adequate representation of both government and non-government experts so that it adheres to the CEC’s original 2002 role as an independent monitor,” the CCG wrote on Sunday.These three decisions “have led us to fear that the last bastion meant to uphold the constitutional provisions to protect and conserve our natural world and the right to life of the people of India is crumbling before the onslaught of rich and powerful vested interests,” they said.They concluded that the decisions, “passed in such quick succession, are, in our opinion, against the interests of the Indian citizen and the conservation of nature in our country”.“Our fervent plea to the Supreme Court is to prioritise the health of its citizens over the waste of money of its corporates, and abide by its own laid–down paradigms of ‘polluter pays’, ‘precautionary principle’ and ‘intergenerational equity’. We urge the Justices, in all their judgements, to uphold the fundamental right to life of the Indian people and their need for a healthy environment.”Among the open letter’s signatories are former IFoS officers Prakriti Srivastava and H.S. Gujral, former national security adviser Shivshankar Menon, former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa, former Research and Analysis Wing chief A.S. Dulat, former home secretary G.K. Pillai, activist Harsh Mander and former IAS officer M.G. Devasahayam.