PANAJI
Stung by the High Court’s interim stay on theprocess of notifying Goa’s Scheduled Tribe (ST) population, tribal leaders fromthe ruling BJP have pinned their hopes on the State and Central governments tochallenge the order, while alleging that attempts are being made deliberatelyto obstruct political reservation for the community ahead of the 2027 Assemblyelections.
Tribal Welfare Minister Ramesh Tawadkar andMLA Govind Gaude expressed anguish over the legal challenge, saying it waspainful to see efforts being made to deny the community a constitutional rightfor which it has been waiting for over two and a half decades.
Tawadkar said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant hadalready spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and that the government wouldseek an early challenge to the High Court order in the Supreme Court.
“See, the matter is in court now. The ChiefMinister has already spoken to Shah, and we will see that the order ischallenged in the Supreme Court at the earliest and we manage to get a stay onthe High Court order,” Tawadkar said. “It is very unfortunate to see that ourown people are against the ST community. Such things should not happen,” headded.
Gaude said it was the responsibility of boththe State and Central governments to approach the Supreme Court immediately toseek vacation of the stay. “It is the responsibility of the State and Centralgovernments to move the Supreme Court to vacate the High Court stay. This hasto be done on an immediate basis,” he said.
However, Gaude cautioned that the legalprocess had to be followed in its entirety and that the government could notbypass established procedures. “On a court matter, we cannot comment more. Wehave to see that we do not bypass the process and ensure everything is followedas per law. We cannot bypass the procedure,” he said. Describing the developments as painful, Gaudealleged that the challenge was aimed at creating hurdles to prevent politicalreservation for the ST community. “It is very painful to see efforts being madeto create hurdles to stop reservation for the ST community. It is done onpurpose,” he said.
Parliament enacted the Readjustment ofRepresentation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State ofGoa Act in August 2025, and it came into effect in August 2026. The legislationseeks to facilitate the readjustment of Assembly constituencies to providereserved seats for STs in Goa.
The Chief Electoral Office even submitted theproposal to the Election Commission of India recommending reserving Priol,Sanguem, Quepem and Nuvem as ST seats.
