1. Conservation of a mountain range — Definition for mining purposes — Prevention of desertification — Compliance with international conventions on land degradation. (Para 1 , 4 , 11 , 21 )
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2025 Supreme(SC) 1956
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
B.R. GAVAI, CJI., K. VINOD CHANDRAN, N.V. ANJARIA, JJ.
In Re : Issue Relating To Definition Of Aravali Hills And Ranges
In Re: T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad – Petitioner
Versus
Union of India And Others – Respondents
I.A. No. 105701 Of 2024 (CEC Report No. 03 of 2024) In Writ Petition (C) No. 202 of 1995
Decided On : 20-11-2025
Important Points
The court underscored the need for a unified definition and sustainable management of the Aravali Hills, emphasizing the prohibition of mining in sensitive areas until a comprehensive ecological assessment is completed.
Subject
Environmental Law - Conservation and Sustainable Development
Act Referred
Headnote
(A) United Nations Convention on Combat Desertification - India ratified on 17 December 1996 - Importance of defining Aravali Hills and Ranges for ecological protection discussed - Necessity of mapping and prohibiting mining in sensitive zones underscored. (Paras 1-6, 10, 18-20)
(B) Mining regulations and sustainable practices emphasized - Prohibition in core/inviolate areas and identification of permissible mining zones as major concerns identified. (Paras 24, 50)
Facts of the case:
The case revolves around the definition and conservation of the Aravali Hills across multiple states, addressing the impact of mining and the need for a unified regulatory framework.
Findings of Court:
The court accepted the CEC's recommendations regarding the definition and conservation measures for the Aravali Hills and directed the MoEF&CC to prepare a comprehensive Management Plan for Sustainable Mining.
Issues: The jurisdictional classification of Aravali Hills, mining regulations, and ecological preservation were key concerns.
Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized the ecological significance of the Aravali Hills and mandated a cautious approach towards mining, arguing that sustainable practices must be established before granting new leases.
Result: Recommendations for sustainable mining accepted with immediate prohibition on new leases until a comprehensive management plan is completed.
(B) Mining regulations and sustainable practices emphasized - Prohibition in core/inviolate areas and identification of permissible mining zones as major concerns identified. (Paras 24, 50)
Facts of the case:
The case revolves around the definition and conservation of the Aravali Hills across multiple states, addressing the impact of mining and the need for a unified regulatory framework.
Findings of Court:
The court accepted the CEC's recommendations regarding the definition and conservation measures for the Aravali Hills and directed the MoEF&CC to prepare a comprehensive Management Plan for Sustainable Mining.
Issues: The jurisdictional classification of Aravali Hills, mining regulations, and ecological preservation were key concerns.
Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized the ecological significance of the Aravali Hills and mandated a cautious approach towards mining, arguing that sustainable practices must be established before granting new leases.
Result: Recommendations for sustainable mining accepted with immediate prohibition on new leases until a comprehensive management plan is completed.
Judgement Key Points
Based on the provided legal document, the key points are as follows:
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The court emphasizes the importance of the Aravali Hills and Ranges, highlighting their ecological, geological, and biodiversity significance, including their role in preventing desertification and supporting water security (!) (!) .
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International obligations, such as the ratification of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, impose a duty on India to adopt integrated land and water conservation approaches, strengthen legal frameworks, and implement eco-restoration initiatives like the Aravali Green Wall Project (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
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The proceedings before the court involve multiple cases and a comprehensive examination of mining activities, definitions, and conservation measures related to the Aravali Hills and Ranges across several states, with a focus on establishing a uniform definition to prevent illegal and unregulated mining (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
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The Central Empowered Committee's report recommends detailed mapping and ecological impact assessments of the Aravali Hills, including geo-tagging, environmental impact studies, and identification of ecologically sensitive zones, with restrictions on mining activities in protected areas, water bodies, wetlands, and regions with groundwater recharge importance (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
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The court underscores the necessity of a scientifically grounded, comprehensive Management Plan for sustainable mining, including ecological assessments, delineation of inviolate zones, and regulations for existing and future mining leases, with a focus on ecological preservation and preventing illegal mining (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
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It is crucial to prepare a detailed Management Plan for the entire Aravali region, incorporating ecological, geological, and environmental data, and to restrict new mining leases until the plan's finalization. Existing legal mining activities may continue but only in accordance with prescribed environmental safeguards (!) (!) .
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The court recognizes the importance of defining the Aravali Hills and Ranges uniformly across states to prevent illegal mining and ecological degradation. Multiple definitions have been proposed, with the committee recommending a definition based on elevation and proximity of hills, but there are concerns about environmental risks associated with opening up lower-height hills for mining (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
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A specialized ecological assessment, similar to those conducted in other regions, should be undertaken for the Aravali Hills and Ranges by expert bodies to identify critical biodiversity zones, conservation priorities, and sustainable mining practices. This assessment will inform the final Management Plan and help balance ecological preservation with economic activities (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
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The court orders restrict new mining leases and renewals in the Aravali Hills and Ranges until the finalization of the Management Plan, while allowing ongoing legal mining activities under strict compliance with environmental safeguards (!) .
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Overall, the court underscores a cautious, science-based, and ecologically sensitive approach to mining in the Aravali Hills and Ranges, emphasizing the need for comprehensive ecological assessments, effective regulatory frameworks, and sustainable practices to ensure environmental conservation and prevent illegal activities (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
Please let me know if you need a detailed analysis of specific provisions or further assistance.
Legal Category Hierarchy
- environmental law
- international law
Advocates appeared:
For the Petitioner(s): Mr. K. Parameshwar, Sr. Adv. Mr. M.V. Kunda, Adv. Ms. Kanti, Adv. Ms. Raji Gururaj, Adv. Mr. Srinivas Patil, Adv. Ms. Veda Singh, Adv. Mr. Prasad Hegde, Adv. Mr. Sai Kaushal N., Adv. Ms. Chitransha Singh Shikarwar, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, AOR Ms. Kritika, Adv. Ms. Tara Elizabeth Kurien, Adv. Mr. D.p.singh, Adv. Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR M/S. Plr Chambers And Co., AOR Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR Mr. Mohd Parvez Dabas, Adv. Mr. Uzmi Jamil Husain, Adv. Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR M/S. Mitter & Mitter Co., AOR M/S. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR
For the Respondent(s): Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Baij Nath Patel, Adv. Mr. Rohan Gupta, Adv. Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, AOR Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, Adv. Mr. Arjun D. Singh, Adv. Mr. Maitreya Mahaley, Adv. Mr. Yimyanger Longkumer, Adv. Mr. Kamei Bestman Kabui, Adv. Mr. Raj Kishor Choudhary, AOR Mr. Shakeel Ahmed, Adv. Mr. Vikram Patralekh, Adv. Ms. Pratibha Singh, Adv. Ms. Shalini Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Gupta Is, Adv. Mr. Shivam Yadav, Adv. Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. K. V. Vijayakumar, AOR Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR Ms. Divya Roy, AOR Mr. Tarun Johri, AOR Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR Ms. Manpreet Kaur, Adv. M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR M/S. K J John And Co, AOR Mr. V. Balachandran, AOR Mr. S. C. Birla, AOR Mr. Ram Swarup Sharma, AOR Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR Mr. Umesh Bhagwat, AOR Mrs. M. Qamaruddin, AOR Mr. H. S. Parihar, AOR Ms. Baby Krishnan, AOR Mr. P. R. Ramasesh, AOR Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR Mr. P. N. Gupta, AOR Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Ms. Bina Madhavan, AOR Ms. Pratibha Jain, AOR Mr. Rajat Joseph, AOR Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR Mr. S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Tejaswi Kumar Pradhan, AOR Mr. Pranab Samantaray, Adv. Mr. Manoranjan Paikaray, Adv. Mr. Pradeep Kar, Adv. M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mrs. Nandini Gore, AOR Mr. Raj Kumar Mehta, AOR Ms. Madhu Moolchandani, AOR Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Mrs. Kanchan Kaur Dhodi, AOR Mr. Surya Kant, AOR Mr. E. C. Vidya Sagar, AOR M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR Mrs. Manik Karanjawala, AOR Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, AOR Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, AOR Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR Mr. Sudarsh Menon, AOR Mrs. Nimisha Menon, Adv. Ms. Usha Rani Pradhan, Adv. Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR Mr. Shiva Pujan Singh, AOR Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, AOR Mr. Sufyan Hasan, Adv. Ms. Hema Malik, Adv. Ms. D Poornima, Adv. Ms. Pritama, Adv. Dr. Sunita, Adv. Ms. Shaivani Gupta, Adv. Mr. Rajiv Mehta, AOR Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Mr. Rajesh, AOR M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR Mr. Lakshmi Raman Singh, AOR Mr. B V Deepak, AOR Mr. T. N. Singh, AOR Mr. C. L. Sahu, AOR Mr. Rajendra Sahu, Adv. Mrs. Hema Sahu, Adv. Mr. Rishabh Sahu, Adv. Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR Mrs. Rekha Pandey, AOR Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. T. V. George, AOR Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, AOR Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR Mr. Rajesh Maurya, Adv. Mrs. Kshama Sharma, Adv. Mr. Ashok Kumar Rai, Adv. Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR Mr. Rajesh Singh, AOR Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Chawla, Adv. Mr. Supriya, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Mr. Mahi Pal Singh, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Kumar Solanki, Adv. Mr. Varun Varma, Adv. Mr. Ishank Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Shubham Rajhans, Adv. Mr. Prakhar Shukla, Adv. Ms. Manisha Chawla, Adv. Ms. Niharika Dwivedi, Adv. Ms. Swati Vishan, Adv. Mr. Ravinder Pal Singh, Adv. Mr. Jatin Malik, Adv. Mr. Narchaman Sharmaendra Pal Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anupam Kumar, Adv. Mr. Lalit Sanjeev Kumar Dixit, Adv. Mr. Ashwani Kumar, Adv. Ms. Shreya Jha, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Sachdeva, Adv. Mr. Avnish Sharma, Adv. Mr. Dilip Kumar, Adv. Mr. Devendra Kumar Mishra, Adv. Ms. Laveena Tak, Adv. Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Mr. Mohd. Irshad Hanif, AOR Mr. Punit Dutt Tyagi, AOR Mr. Rathin Das, AOR Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kulshreshtha, AOR Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Mr. Parth Shekhar, Adv. Mr. Shubham Singh, Adv. Mr. Youkteshwari Prasad, Adv. Ms. Ambali Vedasen, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Verma, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Tomar, Adv. Mr. Rayi Peddi Raju, Adv. Mr. Rajat Sinha Roy, Adv. Mr. Mayur Raj, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Shalini Satyanarayan, Adv. Mr. Soumydeep Chatterjee, Adv. Mr. Darshan Chandrakant Siddarkar, Adv. Mr. Kunal Kumar, Adv. Mr. Shubham Singhal, Adv. Mr. Vijay Singh, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Raman Singh, Adv. Ms. Sushma Suri, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kumar Gupta, AOR Mr. A. N. Arora, AOR Mr. Irshad Ahmad, AOR Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Mr. E. M. S. Anam, AOR Mr. Shiv Vinayak Gupta, Adv. Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR Ms. Anushka Rawal, Adv. Ms. Kritika Singh, Adv. Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mr. Jitendra Mohan Sharma, AOR Ms. Malini Poduval, AOR Ms. C. K. Sucharita, AOR Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mr. K. L. Janjani, AOR Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR Ms. A. Sumathi, AOR Ms. Prasanthi@bharathi, Adv. Mr. Jai Prakash Pandey, AOR Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, AOR Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Mr. Deep Rao Palepu, Adv. Mr. Arjun Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Syed Jafar Alam, AOR Mr. Vikash Singh, AOR Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR M/S. D.s.k. Legal, AOR Ms. Shibani Ghosh, AOR Mr. Chandra Bhushan Prasad, AOR Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Mr. Amogh Bansal, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Ms. Pallavi Langar, AOR Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, AOR Mr. Rajeev Maheshwaranand Roy, AOR Mr. Vaibhav Niti, AOR M/S. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Aor, AOR Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR Ms. Manika Tripathy, AOR Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Mr. Arjun D. Singh, Adv. Ms. Ishika Neogi, Adv. Ms. Supreeta Sharanagouda, AOR Mr. Sharanagouda Patil, Adv. Mrs. Supreeta Sharanagouda (aor), Adv. Mr. Yash S Tiwari, Adv. Ms. Ranu Purohit , AOR Ms. Dharitry Phookan, AOR Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Baijnath Patel, Adv. Ms. Shivika Mehra, Adv. Ms. Seema Bengani, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma - Aor, Adv. Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Ms. Purnima Krishna, AOR Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati Ld, A.S.G. Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Dr. Surender Singh Hooda, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Verma, AOR Mr. Prakash Kumar Singh, AOR Ms. Tanya Srivastava, AOR Mr. Aniteja Sharma, AOR Ms. Adarsh Nain, AOR Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Anzu. K. Varkey, AOR Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR Mr. Sujit Kumar Mishra , AOR Mr. Aldanish Rein, AOR Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Ms. Shraddha Chirania, Adv. Mr. Shantanu Kumar, AOR Mr. Manan Verma, AOR Mr. Ekansh Mishra, AOR Ms. Seita Vaidyalingam, AOR M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR Mr. Ajay Marwah, AOR Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR Ms. Sugandha Anand , AOR Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. Deeptakirti Verma, AOR Ms. Usha Nandini V., AOR Mr. Avneesh Arputham, AOR Mr. Ankit Sharma, Adv. Mr. Prasenjit Keswani, Sr. Adv. Dr. Arvind S. Avhad, AOR Mr. Rishabh Singh, Adv. Mr. Nishanth Patil, AOR Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR Mr. Vivek Jain, AOR Mr. Abhishek Saket, Adv. Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR Ms. Manisha, Adv. Ms. Rupali, Adv. Ms. Rani Mishra, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Venkata Raghuvamsy D. , AOR Ms. Swathi H. Prasad, AOR Mr. Adeel Ahmed, AOR Mrs. Sumita Ray, AOR Ms. Disha Ray, Adv. Mr. Anurag Kumar, Adv. Mr. Kunal Narwal, Adv. Ms. Vanshika Singh, Adv. Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv. Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv. Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv. Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Dubey, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Mr. Tarun Gupta, AOR Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Krishna Rastogi, Adv. Mr. Aryan Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR Mr. Shubham Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Ravi Pratap Singh, Adv. Mr. Vivek Gupta, AOR Ms. Tanu Priya Gupta, AOR Mr. Ajay Agarwal, A.A.G. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Ashiwan Mishra, Adv. Ms. Aditi Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Siddhartha Jha, AOR Mr. S. Krishnamurthy, Adv. Mr. K. Kumaravadivel, Adv. M/s V. Maheshwari & Co., AOR Mr. Mayank Aggarwal, AOR Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, AOR Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Suman Kukrety, AOR Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Shyam Gopal, Adv. Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv. Ms. Sunanda Shukla, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR Mr. Pawanshree Agrawal, AOR Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR Mr. P. K. Manohar, AOR Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Ms. Parul Shukla, AOR Mr. Abhishek Pandey, Adv. Mr. Prashant Kumar Umrao, AOR Mr. Arun K. Sinha, AOR Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, AOR Mr. Shakti Singh, Adv. Mr. Sanchit Garga, AOR Mr. Salvador Santosh Rebello, AOR Mr. Jaskirat Pal Singh, Adv. Ms. Moulishree Pathak, Adv. Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR Mr. A. Karthik, AOR Mr. Rajiv Kumar Choudhry , AOR Mr. Anurag Tandon, AOR Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Sr. A.A.G. Dr. Monika Gusain, Sr. Adv. Mr. B.k. Satija, A.A.G. Ms. Karishma Malani, A.A.G. Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR Mr. Madhav Sinhal, Adv. Mr. Rahul Khurana, Adv. Mr. Nikunj Gupta, Adv. Ms. Drishti Rawal, Adv. Ms. Ishika Gupta, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Mayur Goyal, Adv. Ms. Seema Sindhu, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Arya, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Chand, Adv. Mr. Abhay Nair, Adv. Mr. Omanakuttan K. K., AOR Mr. Ajit Sharma, AOR Mr. Kanchan Kumar, Adv. Mr. Avijit Roy, AOR Mr. D. L. Chidananda, AOR Mr. B. K. Pal, AOR Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Neha Singh, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Sharma, AOR Mrs. Aishwrya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv. Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Baijnath Patel, Adv. Mr. Samir Ali Khan, AOR Mr. Pranjal Sharma, Adv. Mr. Kashif Irshad Khan Faridi, Adv. Mr. Md. Arshad, Adv. Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR Mr. Nishant Awana, AOR Mr. Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi, AOR Mr. Sameer Singh, Adv. Mr. S.k. Sarkar, Adv. Mr. Bhushan, Adv. Ms. Sweta Singh, Adv. Ms. Snigdha Singh, Adv. Ms. Priya, Adv. Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Santhosh K, Adv. Mrs. Devika A.l., Adv. Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR Mr. Krishna Ballabh Thakur, AOR Ms. Aruna Gupta, AOR Mr. Ramesh Allanki, Adv. Mr. Ramchander Goud Vangala, Adv. Mr. Francis Joseph Clement, Adv. Mr. Syed Ahmed Naqvi, Adv. Mr. Yash Gupta, Adv. Ms. Mamatha Ralla, Adv. Ms. Nandita Biswas, Adv. Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Ms. Yanmi Phazang, Adv. Mr. Nalin Kohli, Sr. Adv. Ms. Ruchira Gupta, Adv. Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR Ms. Pooja Tripathi, Adv. Ms. Nimisha Menon, Adv. Mr. Mohtisham Ali, Adv. Mr. Yusuf, AOR Mr. Agam Sharma , AOR Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, AOR Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Mr. Satyalipsu Ray, Adv. Mr. Deepak Singh, Adv. Ms. Priyal Sheth, Adv. Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR Mr. P. Venkatraju, Adv. Ms. G. Sushmita, Adv. Applicant-in-person, AOR Mr. Anant Mann, AOR Mr. Lakshmeesh S. Kamath, AOR Mrs. Samriti Ahuja, Adv. Ms. Aditi Prakash, Adv. Mr. Vikas Kumar, AOR Mr. Gaurav Khanna, AOR Mr. Gopal Balwant Sathe, AOR Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR Mr. Kushagra Sharma, Adv. Mr. Akarsh Khare, Adv. Mr. K. M. Nataraj Ld. Asg, A.S.G. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Anuj Srinivas Udupa, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Neeraj Kumar Sharma, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh K Verma, Adv. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv. Mr. Santosh Ramdurg, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Ms. Sunieta Ojha, AOR Mr. Dinesh Chandra Pandey, AOR Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, AOR Mr. Rakesh Kumar, Adv. Dr. Chidanand P. Mansur, Adv. Mr. Himinder Lal, AOR Ms. Shruti Jose, AOR Mr. Durgesh Ramchandra Gupta, AOR Ms. Rangoli Seth, AOR Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Anika Bansal, Adv. Mrs. Kirti Renu Mishra, AOR Mr. Atul Sharma, AOR Mr. Anirudh Sanganeria, AOR Mr. Shrey Kapoor , AOR Ms. Anne Mathew, AOR Mr. Yash S. Vijay, AOR Mr. Sarvan Kumar, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Kumar Tiwari, AOR Ms. Vartika Maurya, Adv. Mr. A.N.S. Nadkarni, Sr. Adv. Ms. Ritwika Nanda, Adv. M/S. Trust Legal, AOR Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Dr. Abhishek Atrey, Adv. Ms. Ishita Bist, Adv. Ms. Ambika Atrey, Adv. Mr. Navneet Gupta, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR Mr. Jitendra Kumar Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Dhaval Mehrotra, AOR Mr. Ravindra Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Binay Kumar Das, AOR Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv. Ms. Neha Das, Adv. Mr. Shivam Saksena, Adv. Mr. Vikas Bharti, Adv. Ms. Lakshmi N. Kaimal, AOR Mr. Subhasish Mohanty, AOR Mr Rahul Jain, AOR Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR M/S. Karanjawala & Co., AOR M/S. Khaitan & Co., AOR
For the Petitioner(s): Mr. K. Parameshwar, Sr. Adv. Mr. M.V. Kunda, Adv. Ms. Kanti, Adv. Ms. Raji Gururaj, Adv. Mr. Srinivas Patil, Adv. Ms. Veda Singh, Adv. Mr. Prasad Hegde, Adv. Mr. Sai Kaushal N., Adv. Ms. Chitransha Singh Shikarwar, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, AOR Ms. Kritika, Adv. Ms. Tara Elizabeth Kurien, Adv. Mr. D.p.singh, Adv. Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR M/S. Plr Chambers And Co., AOR Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR Mr. Mohd Parvez Dabas, Adv. Mr. Uzmi Jamil Husain, Adv. Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR M/S. Mitter & Mitter Co., AOR M/S. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR
For the Respondent(s): Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Baij Nath Patel, Adv. Mr. Rohan Gupta, Adv. Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, AOR Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, Adv. Mr. Arjun D. Singh, Adv. Mr. Maitreya Mahaley, Adv. Mr. Yimyanger Longkumer, Adv. Mr. Kamei Bestman Kabui, Adv. Mr. Raj Kishor Choudhary, AOR Mr. Shakeel Ahmed, Adv. Mr. Vikram Patralekh, Adv. Ms. Pratibha Singh, Adv. Ms. Shalini Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Gupta Is, Adv. Mr. Shivam Yadav, Adv. Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. K. V. Vijayakumar, AOR Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR Ms. Divya Roy, AOR Mr. Tarun Johri, AOR Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR Ms. Manpreet Kaur, Adv. M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR M/S. K J John And Co, AOR Mr. V. Balachandran, AOR Mr. S. C. Birla, AOR Mr. Ram Swarup Sharma, AOR Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR Mr. Umesh Bhagwat, AOR Mrs. M. Qamaruddin, AOR Mr. H. S. Parihar, AOR Ms. Baby Krishnan, AOR Mr. P. R. Ramasesh, AOR Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR Mr. P. N. Gupta, AOR Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Ms. Bina Madhavan, AOR Ms. Pratibha Jain, AOR Mr. Rajat Joseph, AOR Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR Mr. S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Tejaswi Kumar Pradhan, AOR Mr. Pranab Samantaray, Adv. Mr. Manoranjan Paikaray, Adv. Mr. Pradeep Kar, Adv. M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mrs. Nandini Gore, AOR Mr. Raj Kumar Mehta, AOR Ms. Madhu Moolchandani, AOR Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Mrs. Kanchan Kaur Dhodi, AOR Mr. Surya Kant, AOR Mr. E. C. Vidya Sagar, AOR M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR Mrs. Manik Karanjawala, AOR Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, AOR Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, AOR Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR Mr. Sudarsh Menon, AOR Mrs. Nimisha Menon, Adv. Ms. Usha Rani Pradhan, Adv. Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR Mr. Shiva Pujan Singh, AOR Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, AOR Mr. Sufyan Hasan, Adv. Ms. Hema Malik, Adv. Ms. D Poornima, Adv. Ms. Pritama, Adv. Dr. Sunita, Adv. Ms. Shaivani Gupta, Adv. Mr. Rajiv Mehta, AOR Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Mr. Rajesh, AOR M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR Mr. Lakshmi Raman Singh, AOR Mr. B V Deepak, AOR Mr. T. N. Singh, AOR Mr. C. L. Sahu, AOR Mr. Rajendra Sahu, Adv. Mrs. Hema Sahu, Adv. Mr. Rishabh Sahu, Adv. Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR Mrs. Rekha Pandey, AOR Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. T. V. George, AOR Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, AOR Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR Mr. Rajesh Maurya, Adv. Mrs. Kshama Sharma, Adv. Mr. Ashok Kumar Rai, Adv. Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR Mr. Rajesh Singh, AOR Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Chawla, Adv. Mr. Supriya, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Mr. Mahi Pal Singh, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Kumar Solanki, Adv. Mr. Varun Varma, Adv. Mr. Ishank Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Shubham Rajhans, Adv. Mr. Prakhar Shukla, Adv. Ms. Manisha Chawla, Adv. Ms. Niharika Dwivedi, Adv. Ms. Swati Vishan, Adv. Mr. Ravinder Pal Singh, Adv. Mr. Jatin Malik, Adv. Mr. Narchaman Sharmaendra Pal Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anupam Kumar, Adv. Mr. Lalit Sanjeev Kumar Dixit, Adv. Mr. Ashwani Kumar, Adv. Ms. Shreya Jha, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Sachdeva, Adv. Mr. Avnish Sharma, Adv. Mr. Dilip Kumar, Adv. Mr. Devendra Kumar Mishra, Adv. Ms. Laveena Tak, Adv. Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Mr. Mohd. Irshad Hanif, AOR Mr. Punit Dutt Tyagi, AOR Mr. Rathin Das, AOR Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kulshreshtha, AOR Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Mr. Parth Shekhar, Adv. Mr. Shubham Singh, Adv. Mr. Youkteshwari Prasad, Adv. Ms. Ambali Vedasen, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Verma, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Tomar, Adv. Mr. Rayi Peddi Raju, Adv. Mr. Rajat Sinha Roy, Adv. Mr. Mayur Raj, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Shalini Satyanarayan, Adv. Mr. Soumydeep Chatterjee, Adv. Mr. Darshan Chandrakant Siddarkar, Adv. Mr. Kunal Kumar, Adv. Mr. Shubham Singhal, Adv. Mr. Vijay Singh, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Raman Singh, Adv. Ms. Sushma Suri, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kumar Gupta, AOR Mr. A. N. Arora, AOR Mr. Irshad Ahmad, AOR Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Mr. E. M. S. Anam, AOR Mr. Shiv Vinayak Gupta, Adv. Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR Ms. Anushka Rawal, Adv. Ms. Kritika Singh, Adv. Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mr. Jitendra Mohan Sharma, AOR Ms. Malini Poduval, AOR Ms. C. K. Sucharita, AOR Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mr. K. L. Janjani, AOR Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR Ms. A. Sumathi, AOR Ms. Prasanthi@bharathi, Adv. Mr. Jai Prakash Pandey, AOR Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, AOR Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Mr. Deep Rao Palepu, Adv. Mr. Arjun Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Syed Jafar Alam, AOR Mr. Vikash Singh, AOR Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR M/S. D.s.k. Legal, AOR Ms. Shibani Ghosh, AOR Mr. Chandra Bhushan Prasad, AOR Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Mr. Amogh Bansal, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Ms. Pallavi Langar, AOR Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, AOR Mr. Rajeev Maheshwaranand Roy, AOR Mr. Vaibhav Niti, AOR M/S. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Aor, AOR Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR Ms. Manika Tripathy, AOR Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Mr. Arjun D. Singh, Adv. Ms. Ishika Neogi, Adv. Ms. Supreeta Sharanagouda, AOR Mr. Sharanagouda Patil, Adv. Mrs. Supreeta Sharanagouda (aor), Adv. Mr. Yash S Tiwari, Adv. Ms. Ranu Purohit , AOR Ms. Dharitry Phookan, AOR Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Baijnath Patel, Adv. Ms. Shivika Mehra, Adv. Ms. Seema Bengani, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma - Aor, Adv. Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Ms. Purnima Krishna, AOR Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati Ld, A.S.G. Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Dr. Surender Singh Hooda, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Verma, AOR Mr. Prakash Kumar Singh, AOR Ms. Tanya Srivastava, AOR Mr. Aniteja Sharma, AOR Ms. Adarsh Nain, AOR Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Anzu. K. Varkey, AOR Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR Mr. Sujit Kumar Mishra , AOR Mr. Aldanish Rein, AOR Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Ms. Shraddha Chirania, Adv. Mr. Shantanu Kumar, AOR Mr. Manan Verma, AOR Mr. Ekansh Mishra, AOR Ms. Seita Vaidyalingam, AOR M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR Mr. Ajay Marwah, AOR Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR Ms. Sugandha Anand , AOR Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. Deeptakirti Verma, AOR Ms. Usha Nandini V., AOR Mr. Avneesh Arputham, AOR Mr. Ankit Sharma, Adv. Mr. Prasenjit Keswani, Sr. Adv. Dr. Arvind S. Avhad, AOR Mr. Rishabh Singh, Adv. Mr. Nishanth Patil, AOR Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR Mr. Vivek Jain, AOR Mr. Abhishek Saket, Adv. Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR Ms. Manisha, Adv. Ms. Rupali, Adv. Ms. Rani Mishra, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Venkata Raghuvamsy D. , AOR Ms. Swathi H. Prasad, AOR Mr. Adeel Ahmed, AOR Mrs. Sumita Ray, AOR Ms. Disha Ray, Adv. Mr. Anurag Kumar, Adv. Mr. Kunal Narwal, Adv. Ms. Vanshika Singh, Adv. Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv. Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv. Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv. Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Dubey, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Mr. Tarun Gupta, AOR Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Krishna Rastogi, Adv. Mr. Aryan Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR Mr. Shubham Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Ravi Pratap Singh, Adv. Mr. Vivek Gupta, AOR Ms. Tanu Priya Gupta, AOR Mr. Ajay Agarwal, A.A.G. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Ashiwan Mishra, Adv. Ms. Aditi Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Siddhartha Jha, AOR Mr. S. Krishnamurthy, Adv. Mr. K. Kumaravadivel, Adv. M/s V. Maheshwari & Co., AOR Mr. Mayank Aggarwal, AOR Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, AOR Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Suman Kukrety, AOR Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Shyam Gopal, Adv. Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv. Ms. Sunanda Shukla, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR Mr. Pawanshree Agrawal, AOR Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR Mr. P. K. Manohar, AOR Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Ms. Parul Shukla, AOR Mr. Abhishek Pandey, Adv. Mr. Prashant Kumar Umrao, AOR Mr. Arun K. Sinha, AOR Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, AOR Mr. Shakti Singh, Adv. Mr. Sanchit Garga, AOR Mr. Salvador Santosh Rebello, AOR Mr. Jaskirat Pal Singh, Adv. Ms. Moulishree Pathak, Adv. Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR Mr. A. Karthik, AOR Mr. Rajiv Kumar Choudhry , AOR Mr. Anurag Tandon, AOR Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Sr. A.A.G. Dr. Monika Gusain, Sr. Adv. Mr. B.k. Satija, A.A.G. Ms. Karishma Malani, A.A.G. Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR Mr. Madhav Sinhal, Adv. Mr. Rahul Khurana, Adv. Mr. Nikunj Gupta, Adv. Ms. Drishti Rawal, Adv. Ms. Ishika Gupta, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Mayur Goyal, Adv. Ms. Seema Sindhu, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Arya, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Chand, Adv. Mr. Abhay Nair, Adv. Mr. Omanakuttan K. K., AOR Mr. Ajit Sharma, AOR Mr. Kanchan Kumar, Adv. Mr. Avijit Roy, AOR Mr. D. L. Chidananda, AOR Mr. B. K. Pal, AOR Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Neha Singh, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Sharma, AOR Mrs. Aishwrya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv. Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Baijnath Patel, Adv. Mr. Samir Ali Khan, AOR Mr. Pranjal Sharma, Adv. Mr. Kashif Irshad Khan Faridi, Adv. Mr. Md. Arshad, Adv. Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR Mr. Nishant Awana, AOR Mr. Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi, AOR Mr. Sameer Singh, Adv. Mr. S.k. Sarkar, Adv. Mr. Bhushan, Adv. Ms. Sweta Singh, Adv. Ms. Snigdha Singh, Adv. Ms. Priya, Adv. Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Santhosh K, Adv. Mrs. Devika A.l., Adv. Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR Mr. Krishna Ballabh Thakur, AOR Ms. Aruna Gupta, AOR Mr. Ramesh Allanki, Adv. Mr. Ramchander Goud Vangala, Adv. Mr. Francis Joseph Clement, Adv. Mr. Syed Ahmed Naqvi, Adv. Mr. Yash Gupta, Adv. Ms. Mamatha Ralla, Adv. Ms. Nandita Biswas, Adv. Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Ms. Yanmi Phazang, Adv. Mr. Nalin Kohli, Sr. Adv. Ms. Ruchira Gupta, Adv. Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR Ms. Pooja Tripathi, Adv. Ms. Nimisha Menon, Adv. Mr. Mohtisham Ali, Adv. Mr. Yusuf, AOR Mr. Agam Sharma , AOR Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, AOR Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Mr. Satyalipsu Ray, Adv. Mr. Deepak Singh, Adv. Ms. Priyal Sheth, Adv. Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR Mr. P. Venkatraju, Adv. Ms. G. Sushmita, Adv. Applicant-in-person, AOR Mr. Anant Mann, AOR Mr. Lakshmeesh S. Kamath, AOR Mrs. Samriti Ahuja, Adv. Ms. Aditi Prakash, Adv. Mr. Vikas Kumar, AOR Mr. Gaurav Khanna, AOR Mr. Gopal Balwant Sathe, AOR Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR Mr. Kushagra Sharma, Adv. Mr. Akarsh Khare, Adv. Mr. K. M. Nataraj Ld. Asg, A.S.G. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Anuj Srinivas Udupa, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Neeraj Kumar Sharma, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh K Verma, Adv. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv. Mr. Santosh Ramdurg, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Ms. Sunieta Ojha, AOR Mr. Dinesh Chandra Pandey, AOR Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, AOR Mr. Rakesh Kumar, Adv. Dr. Chidanand P. Mansur, Adv. Mr. Himinder Lal, AOR Ms. Shruti Jose, AOR Mr. Durgesh Ramchandra Gupta, AOR Ms. Rangoli Seth, AOR Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Anika Bansal, Adv. Mrs. Kirti Renu Mishra, AOR Mr. Atul Sharma, AOR Mr. Anirudh Sanganeria, AOR Mr. Shrey Kapoor , AOR Ms. Anne Mathew, AOR Mr. Yash S. Vijay, AOR Mr. Sarvan Kumar, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Kumar Tiwari, AOR Ms. Vartika Maurya, Adv. Mr. A.N.S. Nadkarni, Sr. Adv. Ms. Ritwika Nanda, Adv. M/S. Trust Legal, AOR Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Dr. Abhishek Atrey, Adv. Ms. Ishita Bist, Adv. Ms. Ambika Atrey, Adv. Mr. Navneet Gupta, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR Mr. Jitendra Kumar Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Dhaval Mehrotra, AOR Mr. Ravindra Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Binay Kumar Das, AOR Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv. Ms. Neha Das, Adv. Mr. Shivam Saksena, Adv. Mr. Vikas Bharti, Adv. Ms. Lakshmi N. Kaimal, AOR Mr. Subhasish Mohanty, AOR Mr Rahul Jain, AOR Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR M/S. Karanjawala & Co., AOR M/S. Khaitan & Co., AOR
Table of Contents
2. Dispute over operational definitions of hill ranges — Impact of elevation thresholds on ecological integrity — Balance between environmental protection and livelihood. (Para 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 )
3. Ecological fragility of mountain ranges — Necessity of geo-referenced ecological assessments to identify conservation zones — Risks of total mining bans leading to illegal activities. (Para 33 , 35 , 36 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 48 )
4. Sustainable mining in ecologically fragile zones requires a comprehensive Management Plan based on scientific ecological assessments to balance conservation and resource extraction. (Para 37 , 42 , 45 )
5. Committee's definition accepted — Core areas prohibited from mining — Preparation of Management Plan for Sustainable Mining directed — No new mining leases until plan finalized. (Para 50 )
6. How should the definition of ecologically sensitive ranges be determined for mining regulation?
The court accepted a uniform operational definition based on elevation from local relief and proximity between hills to ensure a streamlined approach across multiple states. (Para 29 , 50 )
7. What is the role of a Management Plan for Sustainable Mining (MPSM) in fragile ecosystems?
An MPSM uses geo-referenced ecological assessments to identify permissible mining areas, ecologically sensitive zones, and restoration priorities, ensuring mining does not exceed the ecosystem's carrying capacity. (Para 33 , 34 , 42 , 50 )
8. Why is a total ban on mining often considered counterproductive for environmental protection?
A complete ban can inadvertently encourage illegal mining, the creation of mining mafias, and criminalization, whereas regulated sustainable mining is more conducive to environmental interests. (Para 48 )
9. Which areas are designated as core/inviolate zones where mining is generally prohibited?
Core areas include protected areas, tiger reserves, eco-sensitive zones, identified tiger corridors, and areas with government-funded plantations or proximity to Ramsar sites. (Para 38 , 50 )
JUDGMENT :
B.R. Gavai, CJI.
IMPORTANCE OF ARAVALIS
1. In the present matter, we are concerned with the definition of Aravali Hills and Ranges and the need for the proper conservation of the same in the States of Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
2. The Aravali Range spanning across the aforesaid four States is one of the oldest geological features on planet Earth. It is one of the oldest fold mountains in India. It is rich in wildlife, flora and fauna, and significantly influences the climate and biodiversity across North India.
3. The scientific assessments of the Aravali Range establish the fact that the Aravali ecosystem acts as a “green barrier” and forms an effective “shield” against desertification by preventing the eastward spread of the Thar Desert towards the Indo-Gangetic plains, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
PREVENTION OF DESERTIFICATION AND LAND DEGRADATION
4. The United Nations Convention on Combat Desertification1[Hereinafter, “UNCCD”.] was ratified by India on 17th December 1996.
5. Article 4 of the said Convention requires the States, which are parties to it, to inter-alia adopt an integrated approach to address the physical, biological and socio-economic aspects of desertification, promote the conservation of land and water resources as they relate to desertification, and to determine institutional mechanisms for the same.
6. As per Article 5 of the said Convention, India as a signatory to the UNCCD, is required to strengthen the existing laws, enact new laws as may be needed, and undertake long-term policy measures and action programmes to combat desertification.
7. A perusal of Articles 10(2)(c) and 10(4) of the said Convention would reveal that national action programmes in this regard are required to be framed and particular attention must be given to preventive measures for lands that are not yet degraded, or which are only slightly degraded.
8. In order to give effect to its commitments under the UNCCD, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change2[Hereinafter, “MoEF&CC”.] issued a National Action Plan to Combat Desertification and Land Degradation through Forestry Interventions in 2023. The said Plan highlights the need for a synergistic and convergent implementation of eco-restoration initiatives in the country.
9. In recognition of the ecological importance of the Aravali Ranges, the MoEF&CC has also launched the “Aravali Green Wall Project”, an initiative aimed at restoring degraded land, preventing desertification, enhancing green cover and improving the ecological health of the Aravali landscape.
10. These cumulative obligations in international law require that a uniform and streamlined approach be taken towards the preservation and restoration of the Aravali ecosystem including regulation of exploitation of the Aravali Hills in a scientific and sustainable manner, guided by the precautionary principle.
PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THIS COURT
11. This Court is seized of the issues with regard to the Aravali Hills and Ranges in two sets of proceedings. The first is in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India and Others , WP(C) No.4677 of 1985 and the second one is in T.N. Godavarman Thirumalpad v. Union of India and Others , WP(C) No.202 of 1995.
12. When T.N. Godavarman Thirumalpad was listed before this Court on 10th January 2024, an issue arose for consideration as to whether some of the mining activities were falling in the Aravali Hills or beyond it.
13. The learned Senior Counsel appearing for the State of Rajasthan on that day had raised an issue as to whether the classification between the Aravali Hills and Aravali Ranges, insofar as the mining activities are concerned, needs to be finally decided by this Court.
14. On similar lines, the learned Amicus Curiae had also raised an issue as to whether continuation of the mining activities in Aravali Hills and Ranges was in the larger public interest or not. The learned Amicus had therefore suggested that it will be appropriate if all the issues with regard to
