NCSC sends notices to MNLU Nagpur over non-implementation of reservation in PhD course

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has sent notices to Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), Nagpur over alleged non-implementation of reservation in its PhD Degree Programme for 2025.

Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Vijender Kumar said he had "no idea" about the NCSC notices.

"I have no idea so far. But if it is so, on Monday, I will ask my office to whom it has come and why it has come and why reply was not given," he said.

On the admissions, the VC said that the University had followed its reservation policy and that vacant reserved seats were a consequence of candidate unavailability. When it was pointed out that 20 unreserved/general candidates had been admitted against only 12 unreserved seats, he stated that the unreserved category had been expanded, maintaining that "no reserved post was given to them" and that "no damage was done to any reserved category candidate."

The VC then referred further queries to the Convenor of the Doctoral Council. When contacted, the Convenor said that he could not assist as the matter had begun in March and he had only been appointed to the position on April 8.

The University's admission notification for the 2025 PhD programme prescribed an intake of 35 candidates across reserved and unreserved categories.

7 seats were reserved for Other Backwards Classes (OBC) of Maharashtra, 5 for Scheduled Castes (SC), 4 for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC), 2 for Scheduled Tribes (ST),and 1 seat each for De-notified Tribes (A), Nomadic Tribes (B), Nomadic Tribes (C), Nomadic Tribes (D), and Special Backward Classes. 12 seats were designated unreserved.

However, the provisional selection list issued on February 3, 2026 listed 26 candidates as eligible for admission. The breakdown revealed that 20 candidates were listed under unreserved/general despite only 12 unreserved seats. 3 were listed under OBC and 1 was listed under Nomadic Tribes (B). Not a single candidate was admitted under SC, ST, SEBC, De-notified Tribes (A), Nomadic Tribes (C), Nomadic Tribes (D) or Special Backward Classes categories.

Among those left out was Dipak Namdev Kharat, an NT-C category candidate who had applied for the one seat reserved for Nomadic Tribes (C). He had qualified the entrance examination on October 3, 2025 and appeared for his interview on January 5 this year.

He raised a grievance with the University, following which the Doctoral Council constituted a sub-committee to examine it. On February 14, the Convenor of the Council informed Kharat via email that the sub-committee would submit its recommendations at the earliest. No further communication came and the course commenced without any resolution.

This prompted Kharat to move the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court, alleging that MNLU Nagpur had filled unreserved category seats while denying seats to reserved category candidates.

A Division Bench of Justices Anil L Pansare and Nivedita P Mehta issued notice to the University on March 10.

During later hearings, the University informed the Court that it was taking corrective measures but a decision had not yet been arrived at. The Court then set a deadline for April 4.

On April 6, the University tendered an affidavit stating that a decision had been taken that a 50% benchmark prescribed for reserved category candidates had been withdrawn as it was unnotified and that Kharat's candidature had been considered for admission to the PhD batch of 2025.

In doing so, MNLU Nagpur effectively acknowledged that an undisclosed eligibility condition had been applied to reserved category applicants during the admission process. Whether this unnotified benchmark contributed to the exclusion of SC, ST, SEBC and other reserved category candidates from the February 3 provisional list is a question that has not yet been addressed.

While Karat got relief from the Court, the larger question from the February 3 list remains unresolved.