High court reserves order on NLSIU domicile quota

The Karnataka High Court has reserved its orders on a bunch of petitions challenging domicile reservation in National Law School India University (NLSIU). The court has been hearing three petitions challenging the 25% domicile reservation in the NLSIU.

The state government has claimed that of the total 800 graduates during the past decade only 33 students have enrolled in the state bar. Summing up the arguments, Advocate General (AG) Pabhuling K Navadgi made this oral submission before the division bench headed by Justice B V Nagarathna. The AG further stated that the NLSIU can only be termed as an institution of excellence and not as an institution of eminence. During the hearings, the state had also argued that a horizontal reservation for domiciles would ensure that a portion of local talent graduating from the institution is retained in the state.

The state had also submitted that students from other states, after graduating from NLSIU, will most certainly not opt to practice in the state. The state has also contended that the NLSIU Act has been passed by the state legislature and the government has been assisting the institution financially in addition to providing the land.

The petition challenged the provisions in the National Law School of India (Amendment) Act 2020. The Act was published in the official gazette on April 27, 2020. The Act provides 25% horizontal institutional preference for students from any recognised institution in Karnataka, for at least a period of 10 years preceding the qualifying examination date.