India, Feb. 27 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the environment ministry and other stakeholders to suggest names of domain experts for the panel which would define the Aravalli hills and ranges, and observed that only lawful mining would be allowed in the region.

The top court, on December 29, took note of the outcry over the new definition of the Aravallis and kept in abeyance its November 20 directions that accepted a uniform definition of these hills and ranges. It had also stalled all mining activities.

It remarked that there was a need to resolve "critical ambiguities", including whether the criteria of 100-metre elevation and the 500-metre gap between hills would strip a significant portion of the range of environmental prot...