3 min readBengaluruJun 29, 2023 10:32 AM IST
First published on: Jun 28, 2023 at 08:51 PM IST
The Advocates’ Association Bengaluru has raked up the issue of domicile reservation with the new Congress government in Karnataka and has demanded Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to stop the grant to National Law School of India University (NLSIU) if the “interests of the Kannadigas are not fulfilled”.
The issue of provision of domicile reservation to students hailing from Karnataka has been a long and contentious matter. While the university has set aside 25 per cent of the compartmentalised reservation for students of Karnataka horizontally as a part of their Inclusion and Expansion Plan 2021-2025, some pro-Kannada activists and lawyer groups are demanding a vertical reservation of 25 per cent to those students who qualify under the All India Quota.
In a letter dated May 31 to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Ranganath stated, “Domicile reservation is intended to be directed towards students who do not qualify based on their All India Rank. In the event any student/s hailing from Karnataka who is otherwise eligible to claim domicile reservation qualifies for admission through the All India Rank, their admission must be construed as one under the All India Quota and not as part of the domiciled seats reserved for students who are: domiciled in Karnataka and do not obtain a seat through their All India Rank. The Domicile reservation of 25% must be exclusively reserved for students who fulfill the aforementioned twin conditions.”
The letter added, “The Government must view this issue most seriously and stop the grant of further financial assistance to NLSIU, if the interests of Kannadigas are not fulfilled.”
A P Ranganath, former president of the association, has also written to the NLSIU’s vice-chancellor Prof Sudhir Krishnaswamy asking to amend the controversial reservation policy at the NLSIU and sought the intervention of the Chief Justice of India, who is the chancellor of the university.
The May 17 letter also urged the NLSIU to implement the domicile reservation policy in sync with the domicile reservation policies followed by other National Law Schools across India.
However, the NLSIU in its letter on June 13 responded that the “university has correctly implemented the Karnataka Student reservation over the last three academic years” after bringing up the issue before the executive council meeting which included the CJI. The copies of the aforementioned letters are available with indianexpress.com.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has already considered a special leave petition filed by the Karnataka government against the judgment of the Karnataka High Court in 2020 that struck down the National Law School Amendment Act that aimed to reserve horizontally 25 per cent of seats for the students of Karnataka.
A P Ranganath, former president of the association, has also written to the NLSIU’s vice-chancellor Prof Sudhir Krishnaswamy asking to amend the controversial reservation policy at the NLSIU and sought the intervention of the Chief Justice of India, who is the chancellor of the university. (File) 
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