Domicile Reservation | NLSIU Says It 'Fully Complies With Applicable Law' Amid Protests

Former President of the Advocates’ Association of Bengaluru, A P Ranganatha and other advocates on Saturday staged a protest at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru, over the alleged non-implementation of the 25 percent domicile reservation policy at the institute.

The protesters claimed that the premier Law Institute was acting against the interests of Karnataka students by not implementing the 25 percent domicile reservation. Ranganathan has also written a letter to the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who is also the chairman of the executive council of the NLSIU, seeking his intervention in the implementation of the domicile reservation policy.

The letter states that “Instead of providing reservation to students domiciled in Karnataka in addition to those who qualify under the All India Quota, NLSIU has effectively restricted the percentage of students who hail from Karnataka to a maximum of 25 percent in each course.”

Further it is claimed “By adopting a compartmentalized horizontal reservation, NLSIU has defeated the very purpose of introducing domicile reservation for students hailing from Karnataka in NLSIU.”

Following the protest. NLSIU issued a press release stating that Vice Chancellor Prof (Dr) Sudhir Krishnaswamy met the gathering and received the memorandum submitted by the organization.

"The vice-chancellor assured the gathering that the university fully complies with the applicable law and decisions of its governing bodies and will continue to do so. The memorandum will be placed before the Universities Governing bodies for their consideration", the NLSIU statement said.

Recently, the State Law Minister JC Madhuswamy had written to NLSIU Vice-Chancellor Sudhir Krishnaswamy alleging that the university was not implementing the 25 per cent domicile reservation stipulated under the NLSIU Amendment Act, 2020, passed by the Karnataka government.

In response to the Minister's statement, NLSIU said that it has 'implemented the Karnataka Student reservation in letter and spirit'.

Through an amendment passed by the State assembly in 2020, horizontal reservation of 25% of the seats in the University for Karnataka students was introduced. The domicile reservation was available to a student who "has studied in any on of the recognized educational institutions in the State for a period of not less than 10 years in the preceding qualifying examination".

This amendment was however struck down by the Karnataka High Court, in Master Balachandar Krishnan v. State of Karnataka & Ors.

While the Special Leave Petition filed by the State Government against the HC verdict was pending before the Apex Court, the University adopted the 'NLSIU Inclusion and Expansion Plan 2021-25' on 17th April 2021, whereby it virtually adopted a 25% horizontal compartmentalized reservation for Karnataka students from the Academic Year 2021-22. Through this, NLSIU ensures that Karnataka students are admitted to 25% seats in every vertical category, including the General/SC/ST/OBC/EWS categories, and thereby constitute 25% of the overall student body.