Former Environment Minister and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday raised concerns over the independence of the five-member High Powered Committee constituted by the Supreme Court of India to examine the issue of redefining the Aravali Hills, saying the threat to the fragile Aravali ecosystem was “still very much alive".
Ramesh said the Supreme Court had shown “great wisdom and courage" on December 29, 2025, when it recalled, on its own, its earlier November 20 verdict on the redefinition of the Aravali Hills and ranges, which he said would have had ecologically disastrous consequences.
The Congress leader, however, expressed disappointment over the composition of the newly constituted committee tasked with examining the issue afresh, pointing out that it was dominated by serving and retired government officials.
He particularly questioned the decision to appoint a serving officer of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as the chairperson of the panel while another serving official from the same ministry had been made its Member Secretary.
Calling the arrangement “deeply disappointing", Ramesh said it raised serious questions over how independent and unbiased the committee could be in dealing with an issue carrying significant environmental implications.
He clarified that his criticism was not directed at the individual members of the panel but stemmed from what he described as the “mindset, toolkit and operating system" of the Narendra Modi government.
“The redefinition threat to the Aravali ecosystem is still there," Ramesh said, adding that widespread opposition from environmental groups, civil society organisations, the media and the public had played a crucial role in forcing a rethink after the November 20 verdict.
He said that pressure now needed to be sustained and intensified to ensure that the committee did not endorse the earlier judgment “in any form or to any degree".
Ramesh maintained that there was “no justifiable case whatsoever" for redefining the Aravali ranges and pointed out that the Forest Survey of India had itself rejected the proposal in September 2025.
