PANAJI
Nearly 20 years after the Forest Rights Act came into force, Goa has recognised the rights of only one in every ten claimants, with more than three-fourths of applications still awaiting a decision. After missing its December 2025 deadline, the State has now pushed the target for disposal of all pending claims to December 2026.
According to information from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Goa has received a total of 10,346 claims under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, including 9,958 individual and 388 community claims. As of March 31, only 1,047 titles, comprising 1,028 individual and 19 community titles have been distributed, accounting for just 10.12 per cent of total claims received.
The State has disposed 2,337 claims so far, representing 22.6 per cent of all applications, while 1,248 claims have been rejected. More than 8,000 claims continue to remain pending for scrutiny and decision.
The slow pace of implementation comes despite repeated assurances by the State government that all pending FRA claims would be settled by December 19, 2025. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had announced the deadline while launching a special drive to expedite the disposal of long-pending claims.
With the 2025 target now missed, the government has revised the deadline and set December 2026 as the new target for disposal of all pending applications.
Sources attributed the delays largely to non-cooperation from claimants, non-submission of required documents, and failure to participate in mandatory spot verification exercises and gram sabha meetings.
Officials said many claims are rejected because they relate to revenue land rather than forest land, while others fail due to lack of documentary evidence, non-compliance with provisions of the Act, or absence of claimants during field verification.
The FRA was enacted in 2006 to recognise the rights of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers over land and forest resources. In Goa, the process of accepting claims began soon after the Act came into force.
The first major deadline for disposal of claims was fixed for December 2013 during the tenure of former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, when around 7,000 applications were pending. However, successive governments have repeatedly failed to clear the backlog.
Under the Act, gram sabhas play a central role in determining the nature and extent of individual and community forest rights. Claims are first verified on the ground by Forest Rights Committees (FRCs) along with forest department officials and claimants. The gram sabha then scrutinises and approves eligible claims before forwarding them to the Sub-Divisional Level Committee and subsequently to the District Level Committee for final approval.
