Goa to move Supreme Court on ST seat reservation after High Court order

The Goa government has decided to go to the Supreme Court to protect its plan to reserve Assembly seats for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community. The decision followed an interim order from the Bombay High Court at Goa, and was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday.

The immediate trigger came a day earlier. The High Court restrained the Census Commissioner from notifying ST population figures for Goa. That is a significant hurdle, because those numbers are needed to re-align Assembly seats before the 2027 state elections, and the order has put the government's timetable in question.

The first step is a trip to the capital. A delegation led by Tribal Welfare Minister Ramesh Tawadkar will meet Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta to discuss the legal route and the proceedings to be started before the apex court. Sawant had said after Thursday's order that the state would urge the Centre to approach the Supreme Court, so the meeting with the Centre's top law officer is the next logical move.

The Friday meeting drew a broad set of participants: Speaker Dr Ganesh Gaonkar, Advocate General Devidas Pangam, BJP Goa president Damodar Naik, Goa Law Commission chairman Narendra Sawaikar, and leaders and representatives of the ST community. According to the government, the group resolved unanimously to take all necessary legal steps to keep the reservation process moving.

Sawant said the state remains firmly committed to securing political reservation for the ST community in the Assembly. He added that the government has consistently pursued the long-pending demand with the central government and will keep trying to clear the legal obstacles. He also reaffirmed the aim of delivering reservation before the 2027 elections.

The political context matters. The meeting followed demands from a section of the ST community that the government, if it is serious about reservation, should pursue legal options without delay. The Supreme Court move can be read as a response to that pressure as much as to the court order itself.

For now, the outcome rests on how quickly the matter reaches the Supreme Court and what relief it grants. With elections about a year or so away, the calendar is tight, and both the state and the community will be watching how fast the case moves.

Source: Navhind Times

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