New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (December 29) stayed its own order and directed that a new committee be formed to study and survey the Aravalli hill range across the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.The Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the peoples’ protests that erupted in many areas including several cities in Rajasthan, regarding concerns about a new definition for the Aravallis which experts have said will open up large tracts of the hill range to mining. As per this definition, only hills above 100 metres above the local terrain would be considered as the ‘Aravalli Hills and Ranges’.This recommendation was made by a committee constituted by the Supreme Court in 2024. On November 20 this year, the court had accepted this new definition, which the Union environment ministry also recommended.However, as per this definition, around 90% of the Aravallis would be excluded leaving it open to mining, environmentalists had said. This would further affect not only local communities, biodiversity and ecosystems but also impact numerous cities including New Delhi, which sits on one end of the Aravalli hill range. Mining in these tracts will increase pollution levels in the national capital that is already battling extremely poor air quality, environmentalists had warned. Moreover, the other impacts include negative effects on agricultural and pastoral communities in these areas, decline in ground water levels and more.These concerns caused huge protests across many parts of Rajasthan from mid-December. Though the Union environment ministry issued press releases and published several social media posts alleging that the Aravallis would not be affected by the new definition, the protests did not stop. ‘Form new committee, identify areas in non-Aravalli range’Taking suo motu cognisance of these widespread protests, the Supreme Court on Monday put its November 20 order – which accepted the new uniform definition for the Aravallis – in abeyance. A three-judge special vacation bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant, stayed the implementation of its earlier directions and the recommendations of the expert committee report about the definition of the Aravallis. The court cited concerns that the revised definition may be misconstrued and could facilitate unregulated mining in ecologically sensitive areas – the very same fears that environmentalists had raised. As The Wire had reported, the amicus curiae on the case, K. Parameshwar, had also cautioned the Supreme Court bench – then led by former CJI B.R. Gavai – on the same issue.“We deem it necessary that [the] committee’s recommendation and directions of this court be kept in abeyance. Stay to remain in effect till constitution of the Committee,” LiveLaw quoted the bench as saying.Also read: Aravallis on Trial: When Law Protects Profit, Not LifeThe court said that prior to implementation, a fair, impartial and independent expert opinion must be considered to provide definitive guidance, per the news report. There was a need to examine whether the definition of the Aravalli Hills and Ranges had created a ‘structural paradox’, and whether it had inversely broadened the scope of non-Aravalli areas, thereby facilitating the continuation of unregulated mining.As per LiveLaw, the bench also said that some other aspects needed deeper examination – such as whether regulated mining would be permitted in the 500-metre gaps between hills, and if so, what precise structural parameters would be used to ensure that ecological continuity was not compromised. The court said it must be determined whether the concern that only 1,048 hills out of 12,081 meet the 100-metre elevation threshold was factually and scientifically correct, and whether a geological enquiry was necessary, the report said.The CJI said that a detailed identification of areas now in the ‘non-Aravalli’ range would have to be done, according to The Hindu. The apex court also said that a new high-powered expert committee be constituted to examine all these concerns. The Wire had reported on December 23 about how the committee first put together by the Supreme Court – to develop a uniform definition for the Aravallis across all four states – comprised only bureaucrats from different departments under the central government. The joint secretary of the Union environment ministry was the convenor of the committee; other members were the secretary of the same ministry, the secretaries of all four states which the Aravalli Range spans, and one representative each from the Geological Survey of India (which comes under the Ministry of Mines), and the Central Empowered Committee and the Forest Survey of India (FSI) – both of which come under the Union environment ministry. Environment policy researchers had flagged this as a concern to The Wire, reiterating that “bureaucrats cannot be experts”. The Supreme Court will now hear the matter again on January 21, 2026.Include local communities in the process’Members of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyaan, a movement to raise concerns by citizens under the banner of the People for Aravallis, “welcomes the interim stay by the Supreme Court,” they said.However, they are still “very concerned” about the expert committees deciding on what is part of the Aravalli and what is not, they said: “Aravallis do not need to be defined. What they need is full protection and conservation.”They have demanded that local communities that will be affected by the mining be included in the process, and that it be a completely “participatory and transparent process by the Supreme Court and the government”. “People living in the lap of the Aravalli range across Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana who are dependent on the good health of the Aravallis for their sustenance and livelihood and who are suffering badly as a result of mining and stone crushing activities need to be included in any decisions being taken with respect to the Aravallis,” they said in statement on December 29. The Supreme Court needs to also order for an independent, cumulative social and environmental impact study of the entire Aravalli range across all four states to ascertain the damage already done – including on peoples’ health and livelihoods — by mining, real estate, encroachments and waste dumping, they added. The movement has also demanded that unless a detailed social and environmental impact assessment is complete, licensed and illegal mining should be completely stopped across all 37 Aravalli districts.“Whatever is left of the Aravalli range needs to be declared an ecologically sensitive region where no more destructive activities are allowed. India’s oldest mountain range does not need “sustainable mining plans” but needs to be protected and conserved. No mining is sustainable. Plus, all definitions to limit the Aravallis need to be scrapped,” they said.Congress seeks Yadav’s resignationUnion environment minister Bhupender Yadav said he “welcomed” the Court’s new order to constitute a different committee.“I welcome the Supreme Court directions introducing a stay on its order concerning the Aravalli range, and the formation of a new committee to study issues,” said Yadav, responding to the SC order on Monday via a social media post on X. “We stand committed to extending all assistance sought from MOEFCC in the protection and restoration of the Aravalli range. As things stand, a complete ban on mining stays with regards to new mining leases or renewal of old mining leases.”Before the Supreme Court’s new order came in, senior Congress leader and former Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh had said that there was “more evidence of how the new definition of the Aravallis will cause further havoc in an already devastated ecosystem”.“It is not just mining but real estate development that is being opened up by the double engine sarkar in New Delhi-Jaipur against the recommendations of the Forest Survey of India,” he said in a post on X. After the court order came in, Ramesh said that the Union environment minister should resign.The Indian National Congress welcomes the directives given by the Supreme Court on the redefinition of the Aravallis being pushed through by the Modi Government. The issue is now to be studied in greater detail. It needs to be recalled that the redefinition has been opposed by…— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) December 29, 2025The Congress demands the resignation of Yadav who “consistently defended the new definition of the Aravallis, a move opposed by all”, Ramesh told PTI.“Today in the Supreme Court, everything has been completely clarified like milk from water,” he told ANI on Monday. “For the past few days, environment minister Bhupendra Yadav has been accusing me that I and Ashok Gehlot ji are doing politics over Aravali…. Aravali is essential for Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, and for the country, but these people were engaged in spoiling it. They (BJP) had no intention to save it; they intended to sell it. We are already living in so much pollution, and they wanted to make it even worse, so we had raised these issues. The Supreme Court has said that there will be further consideration and study on this… Bhupendra Yadav should resign. That is our only demand because he made serious allegations against us. Today in the Supreme Court, it has been proven that those allegations were wrong… We need to bring back the greenery in Aravali. It is essential for life, and we welcome the Supreme Court’s decision.”This article was updated with quotes from members of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyaan and republished on the same day at 6.45 pm.