[Exclusive]: Karnataka students deprived of reservation at NLSIU: Read the National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2020

The Karnataka government earlier this month introduced the National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in the state legislative assembly. The Bill aims to introduce a 25% quota for students domiciled in the state at National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore..The Bill introduces an amendment to Section 4 of the National Law School of India Act, 1986 by inserting the following provision:."(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act and the regulations made thereunder, the school shall reserve horizontally twenty five percent of seats for students of Karnataka."National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2020.The explanation to this Section states:"Explanation: For the purpose of this section "student of Karnataka" means a student who has studied in any one of the recognized educational institutions in the State for a period of not less than ten years preceding to the qualifying examination.".As per the statement of objects of the Amendment Bill, nineteen other National Law Universities provide for horizontal domicile reservation..This includes 25% domicile reservation at NLIU Bhopal, 10% at RGNUL Patiala, 80 out of 258 seats at RMNLU Lucknow, and 16 out of 81 seats at NALSAR Hyderabad..It is also stated that NLSIU Bangalore is a creature of the state legislature. "No reservation is provided in the said University for Karnataka Students and they are deprived of this opportunity.".The introduction of the 25% domicile reservation is justified by citing the Supreme Court's judgments in Saurabh Chaudri v. Union of India and Sourabh Dwivedi v. Union of India..Earlier, Karnataka Law Minister JC Madhuswamy had revealed to Bar & Bench that the Bill would be introduced during the ongoing assembly session. He had said,.[Exclusive]: Domicile reservation at NLSIU soon to be a reality: Karnataka Law Minister JC Madhuswamy speaks to Bar & Bench .“This Bill has been there since the previous government. The previous government wanted to give 50% reservation for locals in the Law School. The Governor had rejected this proposal. Therefore, to avoid confrontation, we have amended and asked for 25% institutional reservation for students who have studied for 10 years in Karnataka.There is domicile reservation in other National Law Schools, IIMs, and therefore, it is important to introduce this Bill. When all central institutions have reservation for locals, why resist for Karnataka?”.The National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in December last year, two years after a similar move to introduce state domicile reservation at NLSIU failed to see the light of day..The 2017 Bill had aimed to provide for 50% reservation for local students of the state.However, the proposal was rejected and sent back by then Governor, Vajubhai Vala on technical grounds.The 2017 Bill was met with opposition from both students and alumni of NLSIU. The law school's founding Vice-Chancellor, the late Prof Madhava Menon, were amongst those who opposed the move..[Read the Amendment Bill]