Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji
Panaji, Nov 3: The Goa Government is set to approach the Supreme Court this week, challenging a Bombay High Court order that stalled the identification of Scheduled Tribe (ST) population figures in the state, in a bid to clear the way for political reservation ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
Goa NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar said on Tuesday that the government would seek the vacation of the interim stay and file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court by Wednesday, November 4.
Sawaikar, who was part of a state delegation that visited New Delhi, said the government was exploring legal remedies following the High Court's order. The delegation included Assembly Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar and Art and Culture Minister Ramesh Tawadkar. The leaders travelled to the national capital on Monday, November 2, to discuss the next course of action.
The Panaji Bench of the Bombay High Court had last week restrained the Census Commissioner from notifying ST population estimates, observing that such figures could be determined only on the basis of the first official Census conducted after 2026.
A division Bench comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit S Jamsandekar passed the interim order while hearing a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Act, 2025.
The legislation, enacted by Parliament in August 2025 and brought into force in August 2026, provides for determining the ST population in Goa and readjusting Assembly constituencies to facilitate political reservation for the community.
The High Court questioned the Census Commissioner's decision to presume that the ST population accounted for 9.9 per cent of Goa's total population based on the 2001 Census, despite acknowledging that the available data was insufficient to accurately assess the present population.
The Bench also observed that the Kunbi, Gauda and Velip communities were included in the ST list in January 2003, whereas the 2001 Census had recorded only 566 tribal individuals across Goa.
The interim order has cast uncertainty over the proposed reservation of four Assembly constituencies for the ST community ahead of the 2027 polls.
Political reservation for Scheduled Tribes has been a long-standing demand in Goa, with tribal organisations and community leaders seeking adequate representation in the state legislature.