On April 27, the Supreme Court of India issued an interim order staying a Bombay High Court decision that rejected the Thane Municipal Corporation's (TMC) attempt to classify a 193-acre land in Manpada-Chitalsar, Thane, as a private forest under the Maharashtra Private Forests Acquisition (MPFA) Act. The High Court had upheld a 2017 ruling by the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal (MRT), which released the land from acquisition, allowing the original owner, D Dahyabhai and Co. Pvt. Ltd., to claim development rights. The Supreme Court's bench, comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and K Vinod Chandran, issued notices to the involved parties and scheduled the next hearing for July 20. The High Court's earlier judgment noted that the TMC already owned 104 acres of the land and had developed infrastructure, including a 40-metre road and facilities for public use. The TMC assured the court of preserving the green cover and was directed to issue Transferable Development Rights (TDR) to the original owner as compensation. The state government contended that the MRT improperly expanded the inquiry from 24 acres to 193 acres. The Supreme Court's stay allows the TMC to further pursue its claim while the matter is under consideration.