NLSIU Domicile Reservation: Karnataka withdraws appeal before Supreme Court

The Karnataka government on Wednesday withdrew its plea challenging the striking down of National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in the State Assembly which introduced 25 percent reservation for Karnataka domicile students in National Law School of India University, Bengaluru (NLSIU)[State of Karnataka v. Master Balachandran Krishnan and Others]..A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Pankaj Mithal remarked that the case had reached a happy conclusion after Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the original writ petitioners (alumnus of NLSIU), sought withdrawal since NLSIU had already voluntarily introduced 25 percent domicile reservation..Sankaranarayanan disagreed with the Court's remark stating,"No. The question of law has been decided against us (by High Court). They (NLSIU) have introduced a reservation of their own.".The Supreme Court was hearing an appeal against a Karnataka High Court judgment that had questioned how NLSIU could be directed by State to introduce domicile reservations by the State government despite being an autonomous institute.In February 2020, the Karnataka government had introduced the the National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in the State Assembly, introducing a 25 per cent reservation for Karnataka students. The Bill was passed the following month.The Amendment Act inserted Section 4(3), which provided for a 25% horizontal reservation for Karnataka domicile students at NLSIU.The Karnataka High Court had in September 2020 struck down the Amendment Act. This led to the appeal by the State government before the Supreme Court..Karnataka Law Minister writes to NLSIU VC expressing displeasure at not implementing 25% domicile reservation.Meanwhile, the NLSIU earlier this year issued a statement clarifying that it has voluntarily adopted a 25 percent horizontal compartmentalised reservation for Karnataka students.The same was part of its inclusion and expansion plan initiated in 2021 for a period of five years. The Supreme Court had refused to stay the said decision.In view of the said decision of NLSIU, the State chose to withdraw its appeal. Four Supreme Court judges had recused from hearing the instant case - Justices Hrishikesh Roy, Aniruddha Bose, Abdul Nazeer and former Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit.