PANAJI
The Goa government has rejected almost 900 claims for land ownership under the Forest Rights Act 2006 due to various reasons including the claims by tribal on revenue land, which is not part of the forest rights.
At the same time, till April 2025, the government has issued sanads to 871 claimants; it is in process of issuing land titles to another 1,418 claimants with land demarcation in the final stage.
The ‘Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act’ in Goa came into force in 2006 and thereafter the State commenced accepting claims for grant of land titles to the backward community. Under the Forest Rights Act 10,137 claims filed by the tribals and other traditional forest dwellers have been pending for a long time and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has taken initiative to speed up the disposal process.
Of these, 9,757 pertain to individuals, while 379 are community claims.
Speaking to The Goan, Nodal Officer Ajay Gaude said that as of April 2025, total 871 claims have been settled with Sanads being issued while another 1,418 will be issued shortly.
“We have rejected over 900 claims due to various reasons. The prime reason is that the claims are made for land ownership of revenue land which is not part of the forest. Also, there is a lack of evidence or documents, non-compliance with FRA’s provisions, etc,” Gaude said.
He also explained that the State may reject more claims, as several claimants are not ready for spot verification claiming right over the land.
“According to them the land belongs to them but the government record shows it is forest land. They will have to submit documents to prove ownership. If that does not happen, the claims will be rejected,” Gaude explained.
So far, the government-appointed forest rights committee (FRC) has conducted spot verification of almost 7000 claims. The sub-division level committee has cleared 2,600 claims, which were forwarded to the district-level committee.
“Wherever spot verification is completed, we would be able to expedite the process of issuing Sanads while in the case of 2600 claims, the exercise will take some time,” he said.
Gaude said that the Supreme Court is monitoring the progress of Forest Right claims nationwide and in its latest directives; it has asked all the States to dispose off the cases as early as possible. “Goa is on right track due to the efforts of the Chief Minister,” he said.
The Forest Rights Act mandates a structured process for claim recognition, with approvals granted by gram sabhas, sub-divisional committees, and district-level committees based on laid-down procedures and norms.
Once the claim is received, FRC does an on-ground verification along with the forest department officials and claimants. The gram sabhas have to initiate the process for determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights or both that may be given to the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers within the local limits of its jurisdiction under the Act by receiving claims, consolidating and verifying them then pass a resolution to that effect and thereafter forward a copy of the same to the Sub-Divisional Level Committee.
