Bombay High Court directs MNLU Nagpur to decide plea by nomadic tribe student for PhD seat

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU) at Nagpur to decide on a grievance raised by a PhD aspirant from the Nomadic Tribe-C category (NT-C), who has alleged denial of a reserved seat in the doctoral programme [Dipak Namdev Kharat v. Maharashtra National Law University Nagpur & Ors.]

A division bench of Justices Anil L Pansare and Nivedita P Mehta directed MNLU to take a decision on the candidate's representation by April 4.

The Court was hearing a petition filed by Dipak Namdev Kharat who had applied for the PhD programme and appeared for the entrance examination.

He was declared qualified on October 3, 2025 and was called for interview on January 5, 2026.

According to Kharat’s plea, the provisional list of candidates eligible for admission, published on February 3, contained 26 names but did not include Kharat, despite one seat being earmarked for the NT-C category. 

He argued that the seat reserved for NT-C was instead allotted to an open category candidate, prompting Kharat to write to the University raising the grievance. 

According to the petition, the Doctoral Council reviewed Kharat's email complaint during its meeting on February 11.

He was notified by the Convenor of the Doctoral Council via email on February 14 that a sub-committee had been formed to investigate the matter and would submit its recommendations at the earliest after which Kharat would receive an update. 

The petition before the High Court claimed that despite this assurance, Kharat did not receive any further communication or recommendations and the PhD course started without any resolution to his grievance.

On March 10, the Bench sought a response from the University and its officials. In response, MNLU Nagpur informed the Court that corrective steps were being taken and a decision would be taken shortly. 

When the matter was taken up for hearing on March 24, the bench was informed that the University was taking corrective steps and was yet to arrive at a decision. This was reiterated during the hearing on April 1.

The bench then recorded this statement and set a deadline of April 4 for the university to arrive at a decision. The matter will be heard again on April 6.

Advocates DD Kamble and SD Borkute appeared for Kharat.

Advocates Yash Venkatraman appeared for MNLU.

[Read Orders]