‘Waiting for my retirement?’: SC junks Aravalli panel extension plea, sets Nov 30 deadline

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant a six-month extension to a high-powered committee tasked with defining the Aravalli hills and range, and directed it to submit its final report by November 30, 2026. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, heading the Bench, questioned whether the panel was “waiting for his retirement” while seeking more time.

“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, who appeared for the Centre. CJI Kant is due to demit office on February 9, 2027.

The Bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, made it clear that no further extension would be granted. It directed the five-member committee, headed by Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education Director General Kanchan Devi, to “work day and night” and finalise its recommendations. The panel is tasked with evolving a uniform definition of the ecologically fragile Aravalli hills and range, and recommending measures to regulate mining in the region.

“The high-powered committee has sought an extension till February 28, 2027... We reject this plea,” the Bench recorded in its order. The court also asked the committee to submit interim reports on specific issues requiring immediate attention, without waiting for the entire exercise to be completed. It further directed the panel to hear all stakeholders, including tribal communities in Rajasthan and Gujarat, before finalising its recommendations.

The matter will next be heard 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 highlighted 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 that 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.

However, the definition raised widespread concerns that large parts of the Aravalli landscape could fall outside its ambit, potentially opening them up to mining and endangering 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 this year, 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.

In 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 covering 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 task. The Supreme Court’s refusal to grant an extension and its insistence on a November 30 deadline underline the urgency the court attaches to protecting the fragile Aravalli ecosystem while balancing developmental needs.