25% horizontal reservation for Karnataka domicile students in place: NLSIU responds to State Law Minister

Following a recent letter sent by Karnataka Law Minister JC Madhu Swamy to National Law School of India University (NLSIU) expressing his displeasure over the non-implementation of domicile reservation at the University over the past two years, NLSIU issued a statement today clarifying that it has voluntarily adopted a 25% horizontal compartmentalised reservation for Karnataka students..As per a press release issued by the University, the same has been done through the adoption of its Inclusion and Expansion Plan 2021-2025 that reserves 25% seats for students domiciled in Karnataka.The University said that in the academic year 2021-22, 30 out of 120 students in the BA.LL.B. program and 13 out of 50 students in the LL.M. program were filled by Karnataka domicile students..Similarly, in the academic year 2022-23, 44 out of 180 students in the BA.LL.B. program, 20 out of 75 students in the LL.M. program and 14 out of 52 students in the new LL.B. program constituted domicile students. In the upcoming academic year, 60 out of 240 seats for the five-year integrated program, 25 of 100 seats in the LL.M. program, and 30 of 120 seats for the three-year course, will be reserved for Karnataka domicile students, NLSIU said..In February 2020, the Karnataka government introduced the the National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in the State Assembly introducing a 25% reservation for Karnataka domicile students, which was passed in the following month. The Amendment Act inserted Section 4(3), which provided for a 25% horizontal reservation for Karnataka domicile students.The Karnataka High Court struck down the validity of this Amendment Act. questioning the authority of the government to direct an autonomous body free from its control to introduce reservations. This was challenged by the State government in the Supreme Court. .The High Court judgment continues to hold the field, given the fact that the Supreme Court has passed no interim order in the State's appeal, the University has stated."The Government of Karnataka preferred an appeal against the decision of the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka by way of a Special Leave Petition filed before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. While the matter was heard at the interim stage, no interim order has been issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Hence, the judgement of the Hon’ble High Court is the applicable law to the matter."Pending the outcome of the case before the apex court, the University after consulting its governing bodies introduced the NLSIU Inclusion and Expansion Plan 2021-25, which is being implemented in a phased manner to provide 25% horizontal reservation to domicile students."Under the terms of this Plan, NLSIU voluntarily adopted a 25% horizontal compartmentalised reservation for Karnataka Students from the Academic Year 2021-22. Hence, NLSIU ensures that Karnataka Students are admitted to 25% of seats in every vertical category, including General/ SC/ ST/ OBC/ EWS and as a result, constitute at least 25% of the overall student body," the statement reads..The statement also mentions that for the academic year 2024-25, 135 Karnataka students are expected to study across programmes at the University. This is expected to further increase to around 500 students in the following academic year 2025-26, as per the press release. .State Law Minister Madhuswamy, had, however, taken issue with the implementation of a compartmentalised reservation for Karnataka domicile students. He had said,“Instead of providing 25% reservation seats to Kannadigas, NLSIU Bengaluru has compartmentalized the reservation and provided a quantity of 25% including those who have been selected under the All India Rank,” the letter said.This is against the spirit of reservation and the intent of the NLSIU Amendment Act, he added..[Read Statement here]