Bangalore Advocates Association urges Karnataka Law Minister to increase domicile reservation at NLSIU to 50%

The Advocates Association, Bengaluru (AAB) recently wrote a letter to Karnataka Law Minister JC Madhuswamy, requesting him to restore the initial move to introduce 50% domicile reservation at National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore..The AAB representation, made in connection with the National Law School of India University (Amendment) Bill 2019, states that the students of Karnataka have suffered a lot since the inception of NLSIU, since the University has never had a domicile reservation quota to satisfy the interests of local students.."Since the establishment of the National Law School of India University Bengaluru in the year 1986, reservation is denied for resident students of our state."AAB letter on 50% reservation for domicile students.The representation further states the first attempt in this regard was made in 2017, when the NLSIU (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was passed by the then state government. This Bill aimed to provide 50% reservation for the students domiciled in Karnataka. However, this Bill did not see the light of day.The present state government recently announced its plan to introduce a Bill to provide 25% reservation for state domicile students at NLSIU. The Bill is expected to be moved during the next Assembly session. Madhuswamy stated that The National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2019 will be moved to provide reservation to those students who have studied in Karnataka for at least 10 years.Keeping this in mind, the AAB has requested Madhuswamy to take necessary steps to increase the reservation from 25% to 50%, as the original 2017 Bill intended to do the same.The AAB letter further states that all other National Law Schools have introduced provisions to provide adequate reservation for the resident students of states. However, the fact remains that NLU Jodhpur and NLU Delhi are yet to introduce domicile reservation. Recently, the General Council of the National Law University Odisha (NLUO) approved 25% horizontal reservation for the benefit of domicile students from Orissa.Since the admission of the new academic year is nearing, it is necessary to “refix” the reservation for admission at 50% instead of 25% in order to safeguard the interests of the domicile students, the letter concludes.[Read the AAB letter here]