India, Dec. 27 -- The Union government was assigned the task of defining the Aravalli range, one of the world's oldest hill systems extending from the outskirts of Delhi to Gujarat across four States.

However, even after more than a year of deliberations by three expert committees using satellite data and inputs from various institutions, a uniform technical definition could not be finalised, prompting the process to continue following a Supreme Court warning of possible contempt proceedings against senior Environment Ministry officials.

A breakthrough came only after the Supreme Court warned that it could initiate contempt proceedings against senior officials of the Environment Ministry. Following this warning, a new sub-committee was ...