'Will not allow anyone to touch Aravalli', says SC; refuses nod for Haryana's Zoo Safari plan

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will not allow ''anyone to touch the Aravallis'', refusing to permit the Haryana government to submit a detailed plan on jungle safari till a definition of ''Aravalli range'' is clarified by experts. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said that the issue of jungle safari will be dealt with when it considers the main matter on the Aravalli range. Counsel for Haryana said that they have revised the detailed project report (DPR) of the safari project from 10,000 acres to over 3,300 acres. He said all they want is to be allowed to furnish the DPR to the central empowered committee (CEC) for their examination. The bench said, ''We are not experts. The experts will decide the definition of Aravalli. Till the definition of the Aravalli range is finalised, we will not allow anyone to touch the Aravallis.'' CJI Kant said that the Aravalli is not only of Haryana or Rajasthan but it is a range which traverses many states. ''We will deal with this issue of safari with the main matter,'' he told the counsel for the Haryana government, who said that the main matter is altogether different and the issue of safari is different. ''Sometimes, the CEC is also very selective in giving its permission. If we permit this, they will give a very rosy picture that these are the trees, wildlife and forests,'' the bench observed. CJI Kant said that once the expert committee's opinion comes, it will deal with the safari project. In October last year, the top court stalled the proposed mega 'Aravali Zoo Safari project', touted to be the world's biggest zoo-safari by the Haryana government. The Zoo Safari project aims to set up big cat zones and house hundreds of species of birds, reptiles and butterflies in an area of 10,000 acres in the eco-fragile Aravalli range in Gurgaon and Nuh districts. The top court was dealing with a petition jointly filed by five retired Indian Forest Service officers (IFS) and NGO 'People for Aravalis' alleging the project would spell doom for the already damaged Aravalli range. On December 29, amid the outcry over the new definition of Aravallis, the top court kept in abeyance its directions of November 20 last year which accepted a uniform definition of these hills and ranges, saying there is a need to resolve ''critical ambiguities'' including whether the 100-metre elevation and the 500-metre gap between hills criteria will strip significant portion of the range of environment protection. Proposing to constitute a high-powered expert panel, the top court had said it seemed prima facie that the earlier report of a committee and the verdict had ''omitted to expressly clarify certain critical issues'' and there is a ''dire need to further probe'' to prevent any regulatory gaps that might undermine the ecological integrity of the Aravalli region. It also directed that as set out in the order dated May 9, 2024, until further orders, no permission shall be granted for mining in the ''Aravalli Hills and Ranges'', as defined in the August 25, 2010, FSI report, without its prior permission. The top court had said this public dissent and criticism appear to stem from perceived ambiguity and lack of clarity in certain terms and directives issued by the court. The top court had on November 20 last year accepted a uniform definition of the Aravalli hills and ranges and banned the grant of fresh mining leases inside its areas spanning Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat until experts' reports are out. It had accepted the recommendations of a committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on the definition of the Aravalli hills and ranges to protect the world's oldest mountain system. The committee had recommended that ''Aravalli Hill'' be defined as any landform in designated Aravalli districts with an elevation of 100 metres or more above its local relief, and an ''Aravalli Range'' will be a collection of two or more such hills within 500 metres of each other.