PANAJI
In a major hurdle to the implementation of political reservation for Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Goa ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections, the High Court of Bombay at Goa on Thursday restrained the Census Commissioner from notifying or publishing the State’s ST population figures, holding that such figures cannot be determined on any basis other than the first official Census conducted after 2026.
Granting interim relief, the High Court observed that no population figures — whether ascertained or estimated — may be notified on any basis other than the first official Census conducted after 2026, which is scheduled to commence from December 1 and ends on January 4, 2027.
The interim order comes as the court admitted a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Act, 2025, potentially putting the government’s reservation timeline in jeopardy.
The development comes barely a day after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant set December 10 as the deadline for notifying ST reservation in Goa. Sawant had said that a proposal recommending four Assembly constituencies for ST reservation had been forwarded to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The court restrained the Census Commissioner from issuing any notification or publishing in the Gazette of India the population figures referred to in a communication dated September 10, 2026. The matter has been listed for further hearing on November 25, with the parties directed to file their replies and rejoinders by November 19.
During the proceedings, Deputy Solicitor General of India Adv Pravin Faldessai placed on record a communication dated September 10, 2026, from the Assistant Registrar General/Census Commissioner to the Ministry of Law and Justice. In that communication, the Census Commissioner acknowledged an inability to ascertain or estimate the current total population or ST population from available data, but noted that the ST proportion recorded in the 2001 Census stood at 9.9% and could be “reasonably presumed” to remain roughly the same.
The court expressed serious concern over the Census Commissioner’s reasoning despite acknowledging an inability to ascertain or estimate the current population from available data. It noted that the Kunbi, Gauda and Velip communities were included in the ST list on January 8, 2003, after the 2001 Census, which had recorded only 566 ST individuals in Goa.
The court observed that notifying the figures under Section 3 of the Act could render them final and non-justiciable, potentially frustrating the petition before its final adjudication. Holding that the petitioner had made out a strong prima facie case and that the balance of convenience lay in granting interim relief, the bench issued Rule in the matter and ordered that the Census Commissioner be restrained from issuing any notification or publishing, in the Gazette of India.
The legislation, enacted by Parliament on August 13, 2025, and brought into force on August 6, 2026, empowers the Census Commissioner to ascertain or estimate Goa’s ST population and its proportion to the State’s total population to facilitate constituency readjustment and political reservation.
Petitioner Edwin Fernandes has challenged the provision, arguing that it confers arbitrary powers on the Census Commissioner. His counsel contended that Articles 170(3) and 332 of the Constitution bar delimitation or readjustment until publication of the figures from the first Census conducted after 2026.
Deputy Solicitor General of India Adv Pravin Faldessai said the Central government would have to decide whether to challenge the interim stay. He also pointed out that the State government had not been made a party to the petition so far.
