India, Feb. 27 -- The Supreme Court of India on Thursday moved another step closer to constituting an expert committee to define the Aravalli Hills, observing that even legally sanctioned mining operations in the region will have to wait for the panel's opinion.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, and comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, acknowledged the urgency of the matter, noting that a blanket halt on mining could affect the availability of construction material. At the same time, it made clear that status quo would continue for now. The court granted two weeks to the Centre and other stakeholders to propose names of domain experts who could assist in comprehensively defining the Aravalli ...