New Delhi, Dec. 25 -- The contentious issue of defining the Aravallis will be reopened on January 7 when the apex court hears the petition of former forest officer RP Balwan who was responsible for delineating the Aravallis in Haryana in 2008, as part of a Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee. According to the court's order dated December 17, notices have been issued to the Union environment ministry and the four states across which the Aravallis range, to appear once again before the court as part of the TN Godavarman Vs Union of India case. Balwan who dealt with several illegal mining cases in Haryana during his tenure, has asked the Court to clarify that the entire Aravalli Hill Range/ecosystem, spread over all four states , Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, as defined by the Forest Survey of India in 2010, and not limited by any height-based metric, is legally protected from all unsustainable activities; that the approved Sustainable Mining Plan as per the directions of the court in its November 20 judgement should be applicable to the entire Aravalli Hill Range/ecosystem, and not just to the Aravalli Hills as per the unscientific definition of the Committee. The reopening would mean that the matter may mean the issue comes up before the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) once again. According to people familiar with the matter, all CEC members have not signed off on the final decisions taken by the Centre's technical committee which came up with a contentious uniform definition of the Aravallis. The technical committee, comprising representatives from the Union environment ministry, Forest Survey of India (FSI), Central Empowered Committee and Geological Survey of India (GSI), defined Aravallis as any landform located in the Aravalli districts with an elevation of 100 metres or more from the local relief. But review of documents shows that CEC, GSI and FSI had agreed on a definition that is far removed than the one the technical committee arrived at. CEC's own approach to defining the Aravallis is evident in its report to the SC in March 2024. In this, CEC made it clear that it does not support the Rajasthan government's proposal that disallowed mining only in those areas which are above 100 meters above ground level....