Team Goemkarponn
DABOLIM: The Supreme Court on Tuesday put an immediate stop to tree felling at Dabolim while taking up an appeal by the Goa Foundation challenging a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order that had allowed a major residential development to proceed.
A bench comprising Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan directed that no trees be cut on Survey No. 43/1-A until the Court issues further instructions. Notices have been served to DLF Homes Goa Pvt Ltd and other respondents, who have six weeks to respond.
The order came after senior advocate Norma Alvares, appearing for the Goa Foundation, warned the Court that the land in question is forest by all expert accounts and is at risk of irreversible ecological loss if construction continues.
The NGO has approached the Supreme Court against the NGT’s June 11 ruling, which declared the plot to be non-forest land, effectively giving the developer the green light to proceed with its project.
In its appeal, the Goa Foundation argued that reports from the State Forest Department, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Araujo Committee had all classified the area as private forest after ground surveys. These findings, the petition states, were set aside by a subsequent Review Committee that relied exclusively on satellite images to omit the land from the forest inventory.
