In Brief
In this high-profile environmental law case, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to Goa's forest identification criteria. Goa Foundation sought to lower the canopy density threshold from 40% to 10% and reduce the minimum forest area from 5 hectares to 1 hectare, relying on the Forest Survey of India's standards. The Court upheld Goa's existing criteria, finding they were adequate, well-publicized since 1997, and previously affirmed in Tata Housing (2003). The Court distinguished between FSI's 'forest cover' (for statistical remote-sensing assessment) and legal 'forest land' (for conservation regulation), noting these require different standards. The Court emphasized that each State must evolve criteria suited to its local geography and that no uniform national criteria exist. Lowering thresholds would burden small landowners and discourage voluntary tree-planting. The decision vacated a 2015 interim stay order on Goa's development approvals, allowing projects to resume.
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