Mumbai: Goa chief minister Digamber Kamat today said the state government's stand on cancelling the 12 special economic zones in the state remains unchanged, even as SEZ groups mounted pressure on the state and the center.

Kamat said while the state government has written to union commerce ministry seeking cancellation of SEZs, there has not been any formal communication from the Board of Approval.

The Board of Approval, which met on Monday, had discussed the GAO government's proposal to scrap 12 Seas and denitrify three and had hinted at talks with SEZ promoters before taking a final decision.

The centre has decided to issue show-cause notices to developers of 12 approved special economic zones (SEZs) in Goa asking them why the approval granted to them should not be withdrawn. The move is in line with the 'principle of natural justice' which has to be followed before revoking government approval, commerce secretary GK Pillai said on Monday.

A decision on denotifying the three SEZs in Goa, however, has been deferred by the Board of Approvals. The Centre will soon initiate discussions with the Goa government on the fate of these three SEZs. The eight other proposals that had earlier been forwarded by the state but were yet to be taken up by the BoA would be treated as ''withdrawn''.

Goa government had decided on December 31, 2007, to scrap all SEZs in the state as there were widespread political protests against the zones.

While it would not be difficult for the centre to cancel the approvals of the 12 formally- and in-principally-cleared zones, denotifying the three zones which had been notified would be fraught with legal and financial consequences.

The three notified SEZs include pharma major Cipla's Meidtab Specialities, Raheja's IT/ITeS SEZ and Peninsula Pharma's biotech SEZ.

Cipla has already invested in the project.

Over Rs 67,347 crore have been invested in the notified SEZs, which provide direct employment to 97,478 people, the promoters claim.