Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), Nagpur has issued a fresh admission notification requiring reserved category candidates to appear for a new entrance examination for its 2025 PhD programme.

For the same batch, 22 unreserved and 4 reserved seats were allotted in February 2026 and classes began in April 2026.

The development follows a June 1 report by Bar & Bench on the National Commission for Scheduled Castes issuing two successive notices to the University over the alleged non-implementation of reservation in the 2025 PhD admissions.

MNLU Nagpur's original admission notification for PhD 2025 prescribed a total intake of 35 seats. Of these, 23 were reserved - 5 for Scheduled Castes, 2 for Scheduled Tribes, 7 for Other Backward Classes (OBC), 4 for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) 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. The notification also prescribed reservation percentages against each category: SC at 13%, ST at 7%, OBC at 19%, SEBC at 12%, and so on.

However, the provisional selection list issued on February 3, 2026 listed 26 candidates as eligible for admission. The breakdown revealed that 22 candidates were listed under unreserved/general. 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.

After Kharat moved Bombay High Court, 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stating that a decision had been taken that a 50% benchmark prescribed for reserved category candidates had been withdrawn as it was unnotified and that Kharat's candidature had been considered for admission to the PhD batch of 2025.

The University has now issued a vacancy round notification advertising 19 reserved category seats - 5 SC, 2 ST, 4 OBC, 4 SEBC, 1 DNT(A), 1 NT(B), 1 NT(D), and 1 SBC - with a fresh entrance examination scheduled for July 19, 2026. The application deadline is July 6. These are treated as unfilled seats from the original 2025 batch.

The vacancy round brings the total intake for the PhD 2025 batch to 45 seats. The University's own original notification prescribed specific reservation percentages for each category. Applied to a total intake of 45, those percentages yield higher allocations than what the two rounds combined provide.

OBC, notified at 19%, works out to approximately 9 seats on a 45-seat intake. Across both rounds, only 7 OBC seats have been allocated. SC, notified at 13%, works out to approximately 6 seats but only 5 have been allocated across both rounds. ST, notified at 7%, works out to approximately 3 seats yet only 2 have been allocated. SEBC, notified at 12%, works out to approximately 5 seats and only 4 have been allocated.

The 2025 PhD batch has, therefore, proceeded through two entirely separate admission processes. Reserved category candidates who go through the July process and are selected will join a batch whose unreserved cohort has already been in class for several months.

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