In a landmark decision in November 2025, the Supreme Court of India settled a long-standing dispute over the legal identity of the Aravalli hills.

By accepting a uniform definition proposed by the Union Environment Ministry, the court established that only landforms rising 100 metres or more above the local terrain will now be classified as “Aravalli Hills.”

While the court also imposed a temporary freeze on all fresh mining leases across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, the new height-based criteria has sent shockwaves through the environmental community.

Experts warn that this technicality could effectively “erase” the vast majority of the range from legal maps, leaving the region’s primary ecological shield vulnerable to unprecedented destruction.

What is Aravalli Range & Hills

The Aravalli Range is one of the world’s oldest geological features, spanning over 690 kilometers across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi. These mountains are not just rocks; they are the primary ecological shield for North India.

By acting as a natural climate regulator, they intercept moisture-bearing winds to support rainfall and serve as a massive “Green Wall” that stops the Thar Desert’s eastward expansion. Beyond climate, the range is a critical groundwater recharge zone for the water-stressed National Capital Region (NCR).

Its fractured terrain allows rainwater to percolate into deep aquifers, providing a lifeline for millions. Protecting this range is essential for preventing desertification, maintaining biodiversity, and ensuring the air quality of some of the world’s most polluted cities.

The Government’s Proposal

For decades, the lack of a uniform definition allowed states to exploit legal loopholes to permit mining. To address this, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) submitted a proposal to the Supreme Court seeking a standardized identification system.

The government recommended that a landform should only be classified as an “Aravalli Hill” if it rises 100 meters or more above the local relief. This submission argued that an elevation-based benchmark would provide a scientifically measurable and “field-verifiable” standard across all four states.

While the government framed this as a move toward administrative clarity, critics noted that this technicality was heavily influenced by the Department of Geology and Mines to facilitate “sustainable mining” of rich mineral deposits.

Supreme Court on Aravalli Ranges

In November 2025, the Supreme Court officially accepted the MoEFCC’s definition, establishing the “100-meter rule” as the new legal standard.

The bench, led by the Chief Justice, ruled that any landform meeting this height requirement, along with its supporting slopes, would be protected. The Court also defined an “Aravalli Range” as two or more such hills within 500 meters of each other.

While the judgment refused to impose a total ban on mining to prevent the rise of illegal mafias, it did issue a significant interim safeguard. The Court ordered a complete moratorium on the grant of all fresh mining leases until the government prepares a comprehensive “Management Plan for Sustainable Mining” (MPSM) to identify sensitive “no-go” zones.

Aravalli Hills New Definition

The most alarming consequence of this ruling is the scale of land that now falls outside legal protection. Data from the Forest Survey of India (FSI) indicates that in Rajasthan alone, only 1,048 out of 12,081 mapped hills reach the 100-meter threshold.

This means approximately 91% of the Aravalli hills are now de-classified and could eventually be opened for commercial exploitation. By focusing strictly on height, the law ignores low-lying ridges, scrub forests and undulating terrains that are ecologically inseparable from the taller peaks.

Environmentalists warn that this “administrative amputation” of the range effectively hands over vast tracts of “non-hills” to the mining industry and real estate developers, threatening to fragment the entire ecosystem.

Catastrophic Ecological Impacts

The redefinition triggers a domino effect of environmental disasters. As lower-elevation hills are razed, the “Green Wall” will develop massive breaches, allowing sandstorms from the Thar Desert to sweep into Delhi and Haryana unimpeded, as per Down to Earth.

This will accelerate land degradation and worsen the already hazardous air quality in the NCR. Furthermore, the destruction of low-lying ridges disrupts the “secondary porosity” of the rocks, permanently damaging the region’s groundwater recharge capacity.

Wildlife corridors for leopards and hyenas will be severed, leading to increased human-animal conflict. Ultimately, replacing a holistic ecological view with a narrow height-based metric risks turning North India into a dust bowl, sacrificing long-term climate security for short-term mineral extraction and industrial growth.

The Logical Indian’s Perspective

The Supreme Court’s decision to redefine the Aravallis marks a critical juncture for North India’s climate security. While administrative clarity is necessary, prioritising technical elevation over ecological continuity risks de-classifying 90% of our natural shield.

We believe true progress must balance economic mineral needs with the non-negotiable right to a breathable, water-secure future.