In Brief
The State of Goa challenged a High Court judgment affirming a trial court's dismissal of the respondents' suit to have their names recorded as owners of forest land (Survey No. 11/1) and to delete the Forest Department's name from the survey entry. The respondents' ancestor had filed an objection to the survey record in 1975 but withdrew it before the Revenue Authority. Despite the withdrawal, the respondents' names were added to the record. The Supreme Court held that this addition was illegal under the Land Revenue Code Rules—no decision had been made in the disputed case, so the names should never have been recorded. Finding the survey originally listed only the Forest Department and that the land was declared forest by a 1951 notification, the Court allowed the State's counter-claim and ordered deletion of the respondents' names from the survey record.
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