NLU Meghalaya students stage protest over academic and welfare concerns

A day after students at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru protested against alleged administrative neglect, students at the National Law University, Meghalaya (NLU Meg) in Shillong launched their own protest.

In a press release issued on May 14, students said that the protest, while immediately triggered by a compulsory uniform notification, reflects broader concerns regarding transparency, procedural fairness, student welfare and institutional accountability.

"The issues raised engage broader principles of fairness, equality, reasonable accommodation, transparency in administration, and participatory decision-making within higher educational institutions," the press release stated.

The grievances span academic policy, residential conditions and student welfare. On the academic front, students allege an absence of clear guidelines regarding the University's Major-Major-Minor-Minor structure, trimester regulations, course allocation and fourth-year academic framework. They further allege inconsistent evaluation practices in subjects including Reading the Law and Constitutional Law, claiming that submitted assignments were not duly considered during assessment.

Students have also questioned the University's attendance policy. While the Bar Council of India (BCI) prescribes 70% attendance as the minimum requirement, NLU Meghalaya allegedly mandates 75%, effectively barring students who have between 70–75% attendance from examinations. Additional concerns have arisen from attendance-based marking systems carrying upto 10 marks per subject, creating disproportionate academic penalties.

Furthermore, students have raised the absence of menstrual leave provisions and inconsistencies in sick leave acceptance as welfare concerns.

Residential conditions feature prominently in the complaints. Due to hostel limitations, several students reportedly reside off campus and commute daily across difficult hilly terrain. Students have also flagged a gender-discriminatory outing policy that requires parental email permission for female students but not male students. 

Additional concerns include inactive student societies, ineffective grievance redressal mechanisms, unresolved issues with the Food Committee regarding menus and pricing and disparities in domicile fee structures between batches.

On internships and competitions, students allege a contradiction between treating internships as compulsory while simultaneously restricting or delaying NOCs, permissions and participation support for moot courts and competitions. Reimbursement of competition-related expenses has also been flagged as an unresolved issue.

Students maintain the protest is peaceful and aimed at constructive dialogue. They have urged the administration to engage meaningfully with student representatives, issue clear academic and administrative guidelines, review attendance and welfare policies and strengthen institutional grievance redressal mechanisms.

Administration responds - partially

Following an impromptu meeting on the evening of May 14, the NLU Meg Registrar sent a communication to students addressing 3 of over 30 concerns raised by the students.

Final marksheets (not provisional) will be issued within 10 days of the declaration of results; anonymisation of exams on the Safe Exam Browser (SEB) platform will be implemented from the next trimester onwards, with the current Learning Management System (LMS) cited as a technical constraint; and law paper evaluations will no longer be conducted by Research Fellows of the University.

On the remaining concerns, the Registrar's email stated only that they were taken into account and will be looked into keeping in mind the welfare of the student community. No timeline, process, or further commitment was provided.

Bar & Bench made repeated attempts to reach NLU Meg's administration for comment, to no avail.