PANAJI
The Goa government has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court’s interim order restraining the Census Commissioner from notifying or publishing the Scheduled Tribe (ST) population figures of the State, Tribal Welfare Minister Ramesh Tawadkar said on Tuesday.
Tawadkar said the petition was filed on the advice of the Solicitor General of India following a meeting held in Delhi on Monday, which was attended by officials of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Census Commissioner and other concerned authorities.
"The Solicitor General of India advised us to approach the Supreme Court challenging the High Court order. Accordingly, the State government has filed a Special Leave Petition," Tawadkar said.
The decision comes in the wake of the Bombay High Court at Goa restraining the Census Commissioner from notifying or publishing Goa’s ST population figures, holding that such figures cannot be determined on any basis other than the first official Census conducted after 2026.
A Division Bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit S Jamsandekar passed the interim order last week, observing that no population figures, whether ascertained or estimated, could be notified on any basis other than the first official Census conducted after 2026.
