NLSIU Bengaluru domicile quota case: Supreme Court judge Justice Hrishikesh Roy recuses

Supreme Court judge Justice Hrishikesh Roy on Tuesday recused from hearing the case concerning the validity of the domicile quota for Karnataka students at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru. (State of Karnataka v. Master Balachander and ors).A Bench of Justices Roy and Sanjay Karol was informed that counsel for the parties had circulated a letter for adjournment. While allowing the same, the Bench asked that the case be listed before a bench of which Justice Roy is not a member.This is the fourth such recusal in the case.Justice Aniruddha Bose had in August 2021 recused from hearing the instant matter, becoming the third judge at the time to do so after Justice Abdul Nazeer and former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit..The Supreme Court is seized an appeal against a Karnataka High Court judgment that had questioned how NLSIU could be directed to introduce reservations by the State goverment despite being an autonomous institute.In February 2020, the Karnataka government had introduced the the National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in the State Assembly, introducing a 25 per cent reservation for Karnataka domicile students. The Bill was passed the following month.The Amendment Act inserted Section 4(3), which provided for a 25% horizontal reservation for Karnataka domicile students at NLSIU.The Karnataka High Court had in September 2020 struck down the Amendment Act. This led to the instant appeal by the State government before the Supreme Court, where no interim orders have been passed yet..Karnataka Law Minister writes to NLSIU VC expressing displeasure at not implementing 25% domicile reservation.NLSIU had earlier this year issued a statement clarifying that it has voluntarily adopted a 25 per cent horizontal compartmentalised reservation for Karnataka students.The same was part of its inclusion and expansion plan initiated in 2021 for a period of five years. The Supreme Court had earlier refused to stay the said decision of NLSIU.