Digital Goa, Apr 1 – The Supreme Court has scheduled the hearing on the Goa private forests matter for May 13, 2025. The matter came for hearing on March 28. The apex court has allowed an impleadment application and issued notices to Vikas Santhan Nanu, Parmesh Construction Company Limited, and Zuari Industries Limited.
In an interim relief on March 3, 2025, the SC had directed the Goa government not to issue conversion sanads for 855 survey numbers classified as private forests by the Thomas and Araujo Committees, effectively halting the conversion of 8.64 sq km of private forest land in the state. The court had also granted time of four weeks to the respondent to file a counter affidavit.
At the March 28 hearing, the apex court clarified that its March 3 order will not apply to John Nazareth and Antonio Nazare, whose 1,750 sqm land in Assagao was declassified as non-forest by the state government.
