In a decision that will affect the status of over 100 acres of land in north Mumbai suburbs, the Bombay high court on Monday upheld Maharashtra government's action of declaring a swathe of private lands as private forests. As a result, the government can now proceed with the acquisition of these lands under Maharashtra Private Forests Acquisition of Land Act, 1975, advocate Nitin Deshpande, additional government pleader said. The decision will affect several big construction groups in the city. The government had issued notices to the owners of these lands, mostly builders situated in Kandivali, Mulund, Borivali, and other areas, terming them to be private forests, and therefore suitable for acquisition by forest department. A bunch of petitions filed by several builders had challenged these notices. Division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari on Monday dismissed these petitions, holding government's action of issuing notices and altering revenue records to show these lands as private forests to be valid.