The Bombay High Court restrained the Census Commissioner from notifying Goa's estimated Scheduled Tribe population. The interim order could delay political reservation for the community before the 2027 Assembly elections.Stock photo used for illustrationPanaji,Oct 30, 2026 09:24 ISTThe Bombay High Court has restrained the Census Commissioner of India from notifying Goa's estimated Scheduled Tribe population, reports news agency Press Trust of India.
The proposed notification is linked to political reservation for the community in the state Assembly.Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said his government remained committed to securing Assembly reservation for the Scheduled Tribe community and had been pursuing the matter with the Centre. Assembly elections are expected in early 2027.The Goa Bench of the High Court passed the interim order on Thursday while hearing a petition filed by Edwin Lucio Fernandes.
He has challenged the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Act, 2025, describing it as unconstitutional.Parliament enacted the law in August 2025, and it came into force in August 2026. It provides for the readjustment of Assembly constituencies to enable reservation for Scheduled Tribes.
The petitioner submitted that the law bars the readjustment of reserved seats for Assembly or Lok Sabha elections until the first Census after 2026 is completed.He also challenged Section 3(1) of the law, which allows the Census Commissioner to estimate Goa's Scheduled Tribe population using the last Census, calculate its share of the state's total population and notify the figures. The petitioner's counsel argued that once published, the notification would be final and could not be challenged in any court.A Division Bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit S Jamsandekar said the Census Commissioner had tried to estimate Goa's Scheduled Tribe population using figures from the last Census, either 2001 or 2011, PTI reported.The court referred to a communication sent by the Census Commissioner to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice on September 10, 2026.
In it, the commissioner acknowledged that the available data did not allow an estimate of Goa's current population or the population of any category.The Bench said it was surprising that, despite this acknowledgement, the Census Commissioner had stated on the basis of the 2001 Census that the Scheduled Tribe community's share of Goa's population could be "reasonably presumed" to have remained unchanged at 9.9 per cent.Reacting to the order, Sawant said the state government was committed to providing reservation to the Scheduled Tribe community in the legislature and had continuously taken up the issue with the Centre."The law is made in favour of the Scheduled Tribe community," he said in a post on X, adding that legal hurdles arising from court cases would be seriously pursued.Sawant said the state government would urge the Centre to approach the Supreme Court to safeguard the interests of Goa's Scheduled Tribe community. He reiterated that his government would leave no stone unturned to protect the community's interests.The High Court's interim order has stopped the notification of the estimated Scheduled Tribe population for now, while the state government has said it will continue its efforts to secure political reservation for the community.- Ends