SC takes cognisance of news report about flattening of Aravalli hills, seeks report from Haryana govt

Having been apprised of the flattening of an entire hillock of the Aravallis, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Haryana State administration to take immediate action to avoid further damage, legal news website LiveLaw.in has reported.

Taking note of a report that appeared in the Times of India on August 25, a Bench presided over by Justice Arun Mishra asked the AAG of Haryana to submit a report after appropriate action was taken.

The report in today's newspaper showed that an entire hillock had been flattened in order construct a road which would connect farmhouses being built in a village called Bandhwari. As per reports, the entire hillock vanished from this village, which is approximately 1.5 KM off the Gurugram-Faridabad highway, within a period of one year. It is further reported that there are around 50 farmhouses in the vicinity, some where construction is complete, while most others are under construction.

As the issue was pointed out to the court during the hearing, Haryana's AAG assured the Bench that the State would act to prevent further damage immediately. Taking this assurance on record, Justice Mishra directed the District Magistrate and police authorities to act forthwith.

"Anil Grover, learned Additional Advocate General appearing on behalf of the State of Haryana, has assured us that needful will be done to stop further damage today itself in the light of the report that has been published in the Times of India. Let appropriate action be taken and a report be submitted to this Court forthwith. We direct the District Magistrate and police authorities to take appropriate action forthwith, as assured by Mr. Anil Grover, AAG," ordered the Supreme Court

In 2018, the Apex Court had been informed that around one-fourth of the Aravalli Hills had disappeared in Rajasthan.

Having learned of the disappearance of 31 hills in the Aravalli area, the top court had then expressed shock and ordered the immediate shutdown of illegal mining in Rajasthan.

The Bench comprising of Justices Madan Lokur and Deepak Gupta had said that even though Rajasthan was earning royalty of around Rs. 5,000 crore from mining activities in the Aravallis, it cannot endanger the lives of lakhs of people in Delhi as the disappearance of the hills could be one of the reasons for rise in pollution level in Delhi-NCR.

Since 2018, this is the second instance of an entire hillock being gone from the Gurugram region of the Aravalli ranges.