NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY (NLSIU)

1. Context

2. National Law School of India University (NLSIU)

• The need for National Law Universities was felt after the second-generation reforms of legal education were passed. Therefore, the first National Law University (hereinafter NLU) was established in Bangalore under the National Law school of India Act, 1986 and it was known as National Law school of India University, Banglore (NLSIU).
• Generally, according to UGC, any university established by the central or the state government will be granted the status of a National University.
• However, every NLU has been established in the states under the legislation issued by the state government. For example, the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research also known as NALSAR is an NLU in Hyderabad.
• This University was established in 1998 by an Act of the Andhra Pradesh State Legislature. Similarly, different NLUs were established in different states through the legislation passed by the state governments.

3. What is Domicile Reservation?

• Domicile reservation means favoring someone on the basis of his or her residence. Initially, the system of domicile reservation was started with the medical examination but now it has been adopted by many National Law Universities of different states. With the help of domicile reservation, the state government can reserve certain seats for students domiciled in a particular state.
• Indian states are famous for their diversity. Every state differs from another state in every aspect. It is possible that one state can have a good number of educational institutions providing quality education to the students.
• But another state may not have an adequate number of educational institutions in the state and due to this reason, the students of that state or many other states with no good institutions would apply to the institutions of different states.
• Now, if such a state with good institutions would have a domicile reserve system then it would create difficulty for students from other states. The policy of domicile reservation of one state would affect the interests of the nation.

4. Why was domicile reservation introduced? 

• In 2020, the Karnataka government notified the National Law School of India Amendment Act. This mandates that NLSIU shall horizontally reserve 25 percent seats for Karnataka domicile students – any student who has studied in any one of the recognized educational institutions in the state for a period of not less than 10 years preceding the qualifying examination.
• The amendment was made to encourage more graduates from NLSIU to join the Bar in Karnataka.
• However, in 2020, the Karnataka High Court struck down this amendment act stating that the state legislature has no power or authority under the Act to direct the Law School to provide reservations for students.
• The court also held that the law school is an autonomous entity and any form of reservation for students to be admitted to it shall be provided by the Executive Council of the Law School bearing in mind the fact that it is an institution of national importance. 

5. Present domicile reservations in NLUs

• As of now, there are a total of 23 NLUs (22 which offer admission based on CLAT and NLU Delhi which has its own entrance exam) and each of them has its own reservation policies.
• Generally, all the NLUs have made seats reserved for SC/ST/OBC/Physically disabled and others, etc. But now the state governments have started to provide domicile reservations in the NLUs of their respective states.

For Prelims