[NLSIU 25% Domicile Reservation] Karnataka Gov. Withdraws Appeal Before Supreme Court

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“No, the High Court likely decided the legal question against us. There’s nothing left in this plea since NLSIU has independently introduced their own reservation.” Adv Sankaranarayanan clarified

[NLSIU 25% Domicile Reservation] Karnataka Withdraws Appeal Before Supreme Court

Karnataka: Today (10th July): The Karnataka Government withdrew its plea challenging the High Court’s striking down of the National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2020. This bill had introduced a 25 percent reservation for Karnataka domicile students at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru.

Justices PS Narasimha and Pankaj Mithal noted that the issue had reached a satisfactory conclusion. Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the state, sought withdrawal of the plea since NLSIU had already voluntarily implemented the 25 percent domicile reservation.

Sankaranarayanan clarified that the legal question had likely been decided against the state by the High Court, and that NLSIU had independently introduced the reservation.

“No, the High Court likely decided the legal question against us. There’s nothing left in this plea since NLSIU has independently introduced their own reservation.”

The Supreme Court was addressing an appeal against a Karnataka High Court ruling, which had questioned the state’s directive for NLSIU to implement domicile reservations despite its autonomous status.

In February 2020, the Karnataka government introduced the National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2020, proposing a 25 percent reservation for Karnataka students. This bill was passed in March 2020. The Amendment Act included Section 4(3), which provided for a 25 percent horizontal reservation for Karnataka domicile students at NLSIU.

However, the Karnataka High Court struck down the Amendment Act in September 2020, prompting the state’s appeal to the Supreme Court.

Earlier this year, NLSIU issued a statement affirming that it had voluntarily adopted a 25 percent horizontal reservation for Karnataka students as part of its inclusion and expansion plan initiated in 2021 for a five-year period. The Supreme Court refused to stay NLSIU’s decision.

_Consequently, the state chose to withdraw its appeal. Four Supreme Court judges, Justices Hrishikesh Roy, Aniruddha Bose, Abdul Nazeer, and former Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit, had recused themselves from hearing the case.