"Affront to meritorious students, reservation for the elite", Orissa High Court on NRI quota at NLUs

In a significant order, the Orissa High Court has observed that the quota of seats reserved for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) at National Law Universities is an ambiguous reservation and unconstitutional (Ishika Patnaik v. NLU-Odisha)..The Bench of Justices S Panda and SK Panigrahi made the observations while hearing a petition moved by Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) aspirant who was unable to apply for a seat in the NRI-sponsored category..After rejecting her petition, the Bench proceeded to record its observations about the legitimacy of the category. The Court took issue with the quota because it had the character of allowing low-ranked students admission to NLUs, at the cost of others.."the NRIS category is an affront to the meritorious candidates who toiled day night to secure seats in NLUs through CLAT. The candidates belonging to the category of NRI/NRIS, who are very low ranked in the merit list often gets seat in the NLUs whereas the general candidates having secured better marks also lag behind the NRIS students and get disappointed."Orissa High Court.Noting that selection on the basis of the quota was unregulated, illegal, and arbitrary, the Court stated:."This is like the reservation for the elite class and this dubious category of quota is unconstitutional.".The Bench condemned the "elitist approach to selected groups" in the CLAT admission process, and stated that changes in the system were imperative..Quoting the Supreme Court's ruling in PA Imamdar v. State of Maharashtra, the Court stated that even the Apex Court had observed that admissions under this category is given to less meritorious students just because they could afford to pay the higher fees demanded by the University..The High Court called upon the Bar Council of India, the Consortium of National Law Universities, and 'all stakeholders' to revisit the quota and establish parameters to regulate admissions via the quota. The process is to be completed as soon as was possible to assuage the pains those who were unable to get admitted to NLUs, the Court stated..The petitioner approached the High Court after she was unable to select the NRI/NRI-Sponsored categories when filling out her application form because of a technical glitch. She then wrote to the Vice-Chancellor of National Law University ,Odisha seeking admission under the NRI category, but her request was not acted upon..Aggrieved by this, she approached the High Court and sought redress. The Court refused her request stating that claiming admission at this late stage would disturb the admissions process. The Court also stated that she ought to have applied in advance for the test to avoid technical glitches. It was further brought on record that she had not availed of time extensions that had been allowed..On these terms, the petition was dismissed. Senior Advocate B Routray appeared for the petitioner, while Advocate PK Rath represented NLU Odisha..[Read the Order]