Domicile quota in NLSIU: Govt ready for 'drastic' steps, says Law minister

The state government will not hesitate to take 'drastric measures' against the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), if it does not provide 25 per cent domicile reservation to Karnataka students, Law Minister J C Madhuswamy told the Assembly on Tuesday.

Madhuswamy was responding to BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar, who questioned why NLSIU was not giving 25 per cent seats to Karnataka students.

The minister said the government is 'serious' about getting the NLSIU to provide reservation in accordance with law.

In March 2020, the Assembly passed the National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill to reserve 25 per cent seats at the premier institute for Kannadiga students. Madhuswamy said this was halted by the High Court and the government has moved Supreme Court.

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"Karnataka's appeal is coming up for a hearing on February 24. We have appointed senior counsel Tushar Mehta. The Chief Justice of India and a few other judges are sympathetic to Karnataka's appeal for domicile reservation. We're hopeful that a decision will be given in our favour," he said. "However, we will not hesitate to take drastic measures."

Kumar urged the government to stop funds to the NLSIU. But Madhuswamy said the government does not want to be unnecessarily antagonistic at present.

Madhuswamy said the NLSIU has to provide 25% reservation to students from Karnataka (those who have studied in the state for at least 10 years). However, instead of providing the reservation separately to Karnataka students, the university is counting students qualified under the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) for it, he pointed out.

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In its written reply, the government stated that NLSIU in 2021-22, gave admissions to 30 students from Karnataka out of the total 120 seats available for the five-year BA LLB course. These students were anyway qualified to join the course through the All-India exam. Also, the government has given financial aid of Rs 31 crore to the NLSIU in the last four years.

"We have taken this seriously. We give land, water and power to the varsity to function here. It is unfair that they won't give seats for our students," Madhuswamy said.

"What does the NLSIU think of itself? When all other national law schools are providing local reservation, why not NLSIU?" Kumar, a former law minister himself, said.