Margao: The state govt on Tuesday moved Supreme Court against Bombay high court’s interim order that bars the Census Commissioner from notifying estimated Scheduled Tribe (ST) population figures, tribal welfare minister Ramesh Tawadkar said.“From the discussion that was held with Mehta, there appear to be no major hurdles in the case. Whatever small lapses there may be can be sorted out, and that’s why it was decided that the state government would file a petition,” he said.The minister added that Union govt and the ST community would separately file their own petitions. He expressed confidence that the apex court would take up the matter soon and said he expected its order before the HC’s next hearing on Nov 25. He was also confident that ST reservation of constituencies would be effective from the 2027 elections. “Once the stay is lifted, the process for reservation of seats for STs for the 2027 polls will proceed,” he said.On Thursday, a bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar restrained the Census Commissioner from notifying ST population figures estimated on any basis other than the first Census after 2026, which is set to begin on Jan 5, 2027. The court noted that while the commissioner had said the ST population couldn’t be estimated from available data, the figure was presumed at 9.9%, the proportion recorded in the 2001 Census. The bench said there was “absolutely no basis” for this presumption, and that notifying such figures would be contrary to Articles 170(3) and 332 of the Constitution.Tawadkar, who was part of a delegation that met solicitor general Tushar Mehta in New Delhi on Monday, said the petition seeks to clear the legal roadblock holding up ST reservation of Assembly seats before the 2027 elections.
