However, no order on them has been passed yet. The next date of hearing is February 13. Explaining it, a senior forest official said: “The matter is subjudice; it is too early to talk about what the final decision of the committee will be. The law is same for everyone and the matter will be dealt with equality.”

But the residents say it’s unfair. “The committee has said in its report that they will let-off the areas given NOCs by HUDA,” Asha Upadhyaya, resident of Kant Enclave in Faridabad, said. “We will suffer despite having maps of our properties sanctioned by the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad.”

Some 23 villages have been identified in the Faridabad district alone by the committee. But the residents of these notified colonies say the committee has spared areas under the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).

However, the forest official clarified this: “No colonisation, big or small, is permitted in the forest areas. It was in 2006 that Haryana chief secretary had requested the state government to provide one-time relaxation under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, to sectors under HUDA.”

When asked that with the decision not the big players, but the end-users will face the axe, the official said: “We have been pointing towards the irregularities in sectors 21, 44 and 45, among others.”