The Supreme Court has given a go ahead to Tata Housing Development Company's premium project in Goa, Villa Paradiso, the company said in a press release on Monday.

The high court had stayed the construction on the grounds that it was built on forestland.

The Supreme Court, on an appeal by Tata Housing, has ruled that the report made by the Sawant committee, which was constituted by the Goa government, on the categorisation of forestland cannot be accepted, as the criteria for being a forestland were not applicable to Tata Housing's plot.

The project is scheduled for a relaunch soon, the release said.

Tata Housing had commenced construction of the project in 1996. In 1997, an environmental NGO, Goa Foundation, filed a PIL before the Goa bench of the Mumbai high court challenging the permission and alleging that the area was reserved for green purposes where no construction activity could take place. Subsequently, the high court had quashed the permission given to Tata Housing, the release added.

Situated in Betim, Villa Paradiso overlooks Panjim and has an impressive view of the Mandovi River and the Arabian Sea. The project constitutes villas, row houses and terrace houses, which have been designed by architect Hafeez Contractor, it said.