NLSIU Bengaluru offers 25% quota for locals

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, has reserved 25% of its seats for students from Karnataka for courses beginning in 2021-22, nearly a year after the high court struck down the state government’s domicile reservation law.

After the amendment to the NLSIU Act in the state Assembly and Council in 2020 was struck down by the Karnataka High Court in September 2020, the state government had approached the Supreme Court in this regard.

A release by the university cited ‘NLSIU Inclusion and Expansion Plan 2021-24’ as the basis for the reservation. It said the governing bodies of the university have reviewed and adopted the Plan that aims to increase student diversity by admitting students from marginalised and disadvantaged backgrounds and expanding the student intake in phases.

An official said a special leave petition has been submitted before the Supreme Court, which is hearing Karnataka’s appeal, to notify the court regarding the Plan and the decision on reservation.

According to the revised notification for 2021-22, “candidates who have studied for not less than 10 years in a recognised educational institution in Karnataka shall be eligible to be considered as Karnataka students”.

The 25% reservation is applicable for BA, LLB (Hons) and LLM programmes. The varsity’s notification states that eligible candidates from Karnataka interested in availing the reservation must update the same in their CLAT 2021 application against the NLSIU, Bangalore reservation tab.

It has also advised the students to keep their study certificates issued by their schools ready which should be submitted at the time of counselling/admission process to claim the 25% reservation.

As many as 30 of the 120 seats for the BA, LLB (Hons) and 13 out of 50 seats under for LLM are reserved for Karnataka students. Separate seats have been reserved under this category for students of SC, ST and General Merit categories.

According to the information shared by the university in a press release, it currently has 660 students on its on-campus programme. In the next four academic years, the varsity aims to provide 30% reservation for women and 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections.

The varsity has identified five research clusters that are currently being developed: Law, Technology and Society, Labour and Work, State Capacity and Reform, Justice and Legal System Reform and Climate Justice.