‘Waiting for My Retirement?’ India’s Chief Justice Rejects Aravalli Panel’s February Deadline

India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant openly questioned whether the committee examining the Aravalli hills was waiting for him to retire, after the Supreme Court rejected its request for six more months.

“They should have clearly asked for a date after my retirement…appears they are waiting for my retirement. We are not going to allow this,” Kant told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, who represented the Centre. The chief justice is due to leave office on February 9, 2027.

The bench, which also includes Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, ordered the five-member panel led by Kanchan Devi, director general of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, to submit its final report by November 30, 2026. “The high-powered committee has sought an extension till February 28, 2027, with the first stroke of the pen. We reject this plea…The HPC is directed to work day and night and submit its final report by November 30, 2026. We make it clear that no further extension shall be granted,” the bench said.

“

They should have clearly asked for a date after my retirement…appears they are waiting for my retirement. We are not going to allow this.

The court also requested interim reports on specific issues so urgent parts of the dispute could be addressed before the full exercise ends. It ordered the fresh review after placing its own November 2025 decision on hold. That earlier ruling had accepted a definition that environmentalists feared could make large sections of the fragile range vulnerable to mining.

The previous Centre-constituted committee proposed that landforms rising at least 100 metres above local relief should qualify as Aravalli hills. Two or more such hills within 500 metres would form the Aravalli Range. Critics argued that this approach could exclude lower hills and hillocks that remain part of the wider ecological landscape. On December 29, 2025, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the controversy, suspended its earlier order and directed that no new mining permissions or lease renewals be granted while the new review continued. The current committee, formed in May, has a broader mandate to assess the landscape scientifically and examine the ecological and other effects of mining and development.

“

The high-powered committee has sought an extension till February 28, 2027, with the first stroke of the pen. We reject this plea…The HPC is directed to work day and night and submit its final report by November 30, 2026. We make it clear that no further extension shall be granted.