You must be surprised to see the word National in inverted commas, after reading this article; you’ll get to know why it is so. About 30000 students prepare and appear for CLAT and other law entrance exam every year, just to get admission in a National Law University. Some of them even take drop(s) and prepare for these exams. It is believed that, just like the IIT(s) for engineering, we have National Law Universities for Law. Undoubtedly, NLUs provide quality legal education, but do you know how a National Law University is established? Do they really have NATIONAL character? Which authority gives the status of an NLU to a law university? Apart from this there are several doubts regarding the status of some National Law Universities (can’t name them: P) Well, to get the answer of such questions, I filed several RTI applications and the information I got was a “package” of Shocks and Surprises! I’d like to share the information with you…

Q. Who Affiliates National Law Universities?
A. NLUs are affiliated to the Bar Council of India (Source- BCI: D: 25/2013 (RTI-720/ LE)) and are recognised by the University Grants Commission

Q. Who grants the status of ‘National Law University’ to Law Universities and what are the requirements to be met by a law university to become a National Law University?
A. Universities are established either by the central government or by the state governments. The criteria are decided by the concerned government (source- University Grants Commission) (F. No. 4-1/2013(CPP-IPU))
(You must be surprised to know that all NLUs in the country have been established by the act of state governments so, all the NLUs are basically state universities… even the UGC has recognised every NLU as a state university)

Q. Whether, National Law Universities only can participate in CLAT?
A. Yes! (Following the writ petition of Mr. Varun Bhagat vs. Union of India, a meeting was held in the Department of higher education, Human Resource Development Ministry in which the scheme of a Combined Admission Test for the NLUs was agreed) Source- MHRD, Department of higher education (No.F. 11-9/2006-U.11 [Minutes of the meeting])

Q. Are these universities (NLUs) recognised as central universities by the University Grants Commission?
A. No! These universities are recognised as STATE UNIVERSITES by the University Grants commission (Source- http://www.ugc.ac.in/oldpdf/alluniversity.pdf)

Q. List of NLUs recognised by the University Grants Commission and the Bar Council of India.
(Source- (BCI: D: 25/2013 (RTI-720/ LE) and (http://www.ugc.ac.in/oldpdf/alluniversity.pdf))
1. National law School of India University, Bangalore-560 072 (State University).
2. National Academy of Legal Studies & Research University, Hyderabad-500 027. (State University)
3. Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Visakhapatnam – 530 017 (State University)
4. National Law University and Judicial Academy, Guwahati – 781 007, Assam. (State University)
5. Chanakya National Law University, Patna – 800 001. (State University)
6. Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur- 492 001. (State University)
7. Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat – 382 007. (State University)
8. National University of Study & Research in Law, Ranchi –835 217 Jharkhand. (State University)
9. National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) , Kochi – 682 017, Kerala. (State University)
10. National Law Institute University, Bhopal (State University).
11. National law University, Cuttack – 753 001, Orissa. (State University)
12. The Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala – 147 001 (State University)
13. National Law University, Jodhpur-342 004 (State University)
14. Tamilnadu National Law School, Tiruchirapalli – 620 009, Tamilnadu. (This university is recognised by the UGC but information regarding recognition by the BCI is not available)
15. Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow (State University)
16. The West Bengal National University of Juridical Science, Kolkata (State University).
17. National Law University, Sector, 14, Dwarka, New Delhi (State University)
I guess all your doubts regarding NLUs in the country are very clear… And Yes! Go thru the list of NLUs very nicely… this information is based on the replies of about 5-10 RTI applications. You can rely on this information more than that of any CLAT mentor’s!

Cheers!