High Court today granted interim stay on the issuance of a notification by the Census Commissioner on Goa’s estimated Scheduled Tribe population, Deputy Solicitor General of India Pravin Faldessai informed. The stay was granted as interim relief in a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Act, 2025. Faldessai clarified that the stay concerns the estimated population notification under Section 3 of the Act, while reservation and delimitation are not presently part of the petition. He said withholding the notification would hold up the subsequent ST reservation process. The Goa government is not a party to the petition, he further pointed out. He went on to add that Goa govt or Center could possibly challenge the stay, as the process for ST Reservation would be held up with this interim stay. However, he said he was not in know of any such decision for now. The court has directed completion of pleadings in the matter by November 19 and listed the matter for November 25. Incidentally, as per Section 3 of the Act Census Commissioner is required to ascertain or estimate Goa’s ST population and its proportion to the State’s total population, accounting for changes to the ST list since the last Census. Section 3 further states that figures must be notified in the Gazette of India, replacing earlier Census figures, and will be final and cannot be challenged in any court.
High Court finds no basis for presuming Goa’s ST population remains at 9.9%
High Court’s written order on the ST reservation matter states that there is “absolutely no basis” for presuming that Scheduled Tribes continue to constitute 9.9% of Goa’s population. The court noted that the Census Commissioner’s office had expressed its inability to ascertain or estimate the current ST population from available data, yet presumed that the earlier proportion remained unchanged.Pending disposal of the challenge to the 2025 ST Assembly representation law, the court restrained the Commissioner from notifying population figures on any basis other than the first census after 2026. The law’s constitutional validity remains under consideration.
*Detailed Court Order* https://digitalgoa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/streservation.pdf
