SC sets up expert panel on Aravalis, petitioners question its independence

New Delhi: In search of a new expansive definition of 'Aravali hills and ranges' after dropping the earlier court-accepted controversial 100m height criteria, Supreme Court has entrusted the task to a five-member high-powered committee that'll include experts from Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education, Forest Survey of India and Geological Survey of India.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said while the DG of ICFRE will be ex-officio chairperson, the other members would be FSI ex-DG Subhash Ashutosh, GSI's former director Rajendra K Sharma, MoEF ex-joint secretary Brij Mohan Singh Rathore and Ashok K Bhatnagar, former head of botany, DU. The committee is to submit its report by Aug 31.

Environmentalists, two of whom are petitioners in the case, asked how a panel led by a bureaucrat who reports to govt could fulfil the objective of a "fair, impartial and independent" assessment.

Committee to assess impact of ‘regulated mining’ in newly-marked Aravali areas

The committee is mandated mainly to examine the ecological validity of both the 100metre elevation and 500-metre gap criteria applied by the earlier panel’s report, which was accepted by SC in its Nov 20 last year judgment. The CJI-led bench had stayed the operation of that definition.

HPC would examine “whether the widely publicised criticism asserting that only 1,048 hills out of 12,081 in Rajasthan meet the 100-metre elevation threshold, thereby stripping the remaining lower ranges of environmental protection, is factually and scientifically accurate”.

Importantly, HPC will analyse “whether ‘sustainable mining’ or ‘regulated mining’ within the newly demarcated Aravali areas, notwithstanding regulatory oversight, would result in any adverse ecological consequences” and also carry out a detailed identification of the territories that would be excluded from protection under the new definition of Aravali, keeping in view its ecosystem and biodiversity.

The bench said, “HPC is expected to objectively assess the implications of the measures contemplated and assist this court in determining whether their implementation may give rise to ecological, environmental, or other consequences that may subsequently prove difficult, if not impossible, to reverse.”

Such an exercise is necessary to ensure that any decision ultimately tak-en does not inadvertently cause further degradation of the Aravali ecosystem and that appropriate measures are devised to safeguard these ancient mountain ranges and the ecological systems that they sustain, it said.

HPC will have J Krishnaswamy, dean of School of Environment and Sustainability, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, and Laxmikant Sharma of Central University of Haryana as special invitees. A directorrank officer from MoEF will be member secretary of committee.

SC said the issue at hand impacts a wide range of stakeholders, such as environmentalists, NGOs, mining lease holders and villagers. HPC can invite representations from public. SC will hear the case on Sept 7.