Not how an NLU should be running; carpet pulled from under students' feet: Supreme Court on NLU Tripura admissions

The Supreme Court on Monday criticised National Law University (NLU), Tripura on the manner in which it cancelled admissions for its 2022-23 academic session for want of domicile quota. (Somya Sanjay and ors v. National Law University Tripura and ors).A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Manoj Misra and Aravind Kumar impleaded the Bar Council of India (BCI) in the matter and sought its response. Further, the Registrar of NLU Tripura was directed to be present at the next hearing.The Court was also left unimpressed by the contention that the admissions had been cancelled owing to lack of buildings and faculty." ... the question remains that the expectations are raised in respect of students who may not have got admission elsewhere by seeking to offer them admission. This is hardly how an NLU should be running! We also fail to appreciate how the University is also certified by the Bar Council of India if neither there is any faculty nor is there any building. We thus, consider it appropriate to implead the Bar Council of India as a party", the Court ordered..The Bench was hearing plea challenging the cancellation of the admission process initiated by NLU Tripura for the academic session 2022-23 after all academic formalities were completed.Sixteen students had moved the apex court challenging a notification dated December 19, 2022 issued by NLU Tripura in this regard, and one by the Director of Higher Education Department, Government of Tripura dated December 16..Appearing for the respondents, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh said that the petitioner-students were actually in the wait-list of prospective admissions to the University.He added that a counter-affidavit had been submitted to point out that the institute lacked the necessary buildings and faculty in view of which the decision to cancel admission was also taken.Justice Kaul at the outset remarked, "It is an unfortunate case, suddenly you pull the carpet from under their feet."He added that the respondents had raised the expectations of the students first, and now the Court would have to set that right. Justice Kaul added that the respondents' counter-affidavit was "very very iffy" and did not evoke any confidence."The counter affidavit has been filed by the National Law University (NLU), Tripura ... seeking to paint a picture as if the absence of any faculty and infrastructure was responsible for not carrying out the admissions. The fact however, remains that as per the communication letter, the only aspect flagged was the absence of Domicile Quota ... The second aspect is completely missing from the communications sent ... The admissions in pursuance to the CLAT process were completed," the Bench noted in its order. .After issuing notice to the BCI and asking the University's Registrar to be present in the next hearing with all relevant records, Justice Kaul remarked that the petitioner-students should have applied to other law institutes as well.To Singh, he then said,"Sort this out. Premier institutions should not go on like this."The matter will be next be taken up on February 28, 2023. .Last month, the Court had sought responses from the Registrar of NLU Tripura, the Consortium of NLUs, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the State government in the matter.In their plea, the petitioners prayed for directions to NLU Tripura to resume the admission process for the session.Alternatively, a direction was sought to the Consortium of NLUs and the UGC to accommodate the petitioner students in any of the other NLUs across India, so that they do not lose a whole academic year.The petitioners stated that NLU Tripura's move is directly in violation of their fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.The move was without any application of mind, after all academic formalities including payment of fees was done, the plea stated..[Read order]