The Supreme Court of India stayed its own November 20, 2025, judgment that had accepted a 100-metre elevation criterion for defining Aravalli hills, responding to widespread protests from environmental groups and concerns about ecological damage. The November judgment had defined Aravalli hills as landforms in designated districts with a minimum elevation of 100 metres from local relief. Under this definition, only 1,048 out of 12,081 documented Aravalli hills (measuring 20 metres or more in height) — approximately 8.7 per cent — exceeded the 100-metre threshold, effectively removing protection from the vast majority of the Aravalli range. The court questioned whether this finding was scientifically and factually sound. Staying the earlier judgment, the Supreme Court directed the constitution of a High-Powered Expert Committee to undertake a holistic reassessment: identifying areas covered and excluded under the 100-metre definition, assessing the ecological impact of regulated mining activities in excluded areas, and evaluating both short- and long-term environmental consequences. The Aravalli hills, extending approximately 800 km across Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, and Gujarat, are India's oldest mountain range (approximately 1,500 million years old) and serve as a critical ecological barrier preventing the advance of the Thar Desert towards the Indo-Gangetic plains. The judgment has significant implications for Rajasthan, which contains the largest section of the Aravalli range and where mining interests frequently conflict with conservation mandates.