The Karnataka state government has said it would table the NLSIU Bangalore 25% state quota bill on 17 February, and added that it kind of expected the university to also reserve another 22.5% of seats to Karnataka resident SC/ST (scheduled caste and tribe students).

“Apart from the 25% reservation, we were under the impression that the law school was providing seats to local Karnataka students under the mandatory SC/ST quota. But it turns out that it is not our students, but those from other states who have been given seats under the SC/ST quota,” [Law Minister JC] Madhuswamy said.

— Deccanherald

Mind you, its amendment bill wouldn’t make this additional 22.5% requirement explicit, perhaps wary of the previous government’s 50% reservation attempt that had been shot down by the governor in 2017.

Instead, the law minister said that it would be NLSIU’s constitutional duty to provide the additional seats “so, we will take it up with them”.

NLU Delhi students, meanwhile, have protested against plans to impose a 50% local reservation, which we had first reported on 15 January, with a letter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

In the open letter, reportedly, the students state:

apart from greatly jeopardising the national character of our institution, as borne by its very name, the notification also denies to all applicants from the National Capital Region, residential accommodation within the university...

Furthermore, due to the National Capital Territory’s distressing record on female safety, the notification disproportionately impacts potential female applicants, who may be forced to lose out on quality education due to factors beyond their control, worsening the already skewed sex ration prevailing within our university...

Our humble prayer is that the Hon’ble Court take such steps as it deems just and necessary for ensuring that the residential nature and national character of our university is not diluted, so as to maintain the high standards of education offered at our institution and to ensure that the same remains accessible to individuals from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, and not merely to those with the good fortune of having lived in a metropolitan city like Delhi, who form but a microscopic minority in our country still.