Two weeks before Supreme Court accepted 100-m Aravalli norm, its panel cautioned on mining leases

These mines are “either wholly situated within or have the major portion of their lease areas falling inside the Aravalli Hills and Ranges as defined by the Forest Survey of India (FSI)”, the CEC told the court.

CEC is a body set up by the Supreme Court in 2002 to monitor and ensure compliance of its orders related to environment and forests.

According to a senior official in the Rajasthan forest department, most, if not all, of these leases are below 100-meter elevation since the state has followed the 100-meter height cutoff for permitting mining licences since 2006. “If the 100-meter definition accepted by the SC is applied now, these mines will fall outside the newly-defined Aravalli,” the official, who did not wish to be named, told The Indian Express.

The SC is yet to take a call on the renewal or extension of these 164 leases spanning over 76 sq km across Aravalli hills in Rajasthan. But these could be the immediate beneficiaries following the court’s acceptance on November 20 of the 100-metre definition of the Aravalli hills.

The issue of mining leases dates back to May 2024 when the SC had allowed the Aravalli states to process applications for grant or renewal of leases, with the rider that “no final permission shall be granted for mining in the Aravalli Hills/Ranges, as defined in the FSI Report dated 25.08.2010, without permission from this Court.”

Subsequently, the SC permitted Rajasthan this August “to file an appropriate application seeking permission to renew or extend the mining leases of such applicants whose applications were found to be in conformity with the relevant provisions of law and who had fulfilled all statutory compliances.”

Since the SC’s May 2024 order, Rajasthan received a total of 379 applications for extension or renewal of mining leases/ quarry licenses that had either expired or were due to expire, show records. Of these, 165 applications already completed all requisite formalities under the Rajasthan Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2017, and obtained other clearances.

On September 17, the SC asked the CEC to examine these 165 applications and file a report by October 8. However, at a meeting with senior officials of Rajasthan’s Department of Mines and Geology on October 3, the CEC pointed out that the state was yet to submit several crucial details, such as approved mining plans, KML files, FSI polygons of the Aravalli Hills, inspection reports, and compliance status.

Subsequently, the CEC superimposed the KML files of the mining areas and the Aravalli polygons prepared by the FSI on Google Earth to assess the extent of overlaps.

In its report submitted to the SC on November 7, the CEC said: “Upon detailed analysis, it was observed that, except for one Mining Lease No ML-65/1993, leased to Rajasthan State Mines & Minerals Limited, in which only a marginal portion of the lease area falls within the FSl-defined Aravalli polygons; all other leases are either situated entirely within, or have the major part of their lease areas falling inside, the polygons of the Aravalli Hills and Ranges as defined by the FSI.”

Accordingly, the CEC report recommended that, barring Mining Lease No. ML-65/1993, all “remaining 164 mining leases may not be approved or processed further till a final definition of the Aravalli Hill & Ranges is approved by this Hon’ble Court, as these leases are either wholly situated within or have the major portion of their lease areas falling inside the Aravalli Hills and Ranges as defined by the FSI.”

Less than two weeks after this, on November 20, the SC replaced the FSI’s 3-degree slope yardstick with the 100-meter definition proposed for Aravalli hills by a panel led by the Environment Secretary.