NLU: Karnataka, Punjab, Delhi respond to demand for OBC reservation

NEW DELHI: On Wednesday, All India Federation of Other Backward Classes Employees Welfare Associations, announced that chief ministers of Karnataka, Delhi and Punjab have responded to their letters complaining about some of the top law colleges in India, the National Law Universities (NLU) not reserving 27% seats for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) as per the Constitution.

Recently, the federation culled out result data from the Common Law Admission Test 2022 (CLAT), conducted by the Consortium of NLUs. The association’s statement from August 19 said that “no OBC reservation has been applied in 12 NLUs under postgraduate courses and 12 NLUs under undergraduate courses.”

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The AIOBC Employees Federation has written to several state governments regarding implementation of 27% OBC reservation for students in NLUs. “After writing to all the 13 states where OBC reservation for students in NLUs are not being implemented, three states chief ministers responded to our letters and forwarded to the concerned departments for appropriate action, relating to implementation of 27% reservation for OBC in their NLUs,” said G Karunanidhy, general secretary, AIOBC Employees Federation said in a statement. In January, the association had demanded that CLAT 2022 be put on hold until reservation was implemented.

NLU OBC Quota: State response

In Delhi, it was forwarded to its deputy CM, Manish Sisodia, who is also the education minister; in Punjab it was forwarded to Ramesh Kumar, principal secretary, department of social justice, empowerment and minorities; in Karnataka it was forwarded to principal secretary, department of higher education. While the NLUs were conceived as “national institutions”, they have come up under state laws, on state land and some still receive state funds.

Karnataka has India’s top law college, National Law School Of India University (NLSIU) Bengaluru; Delhi has the National Law University or NLU Delhi; and Punjab, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL).

The units of the federation in these states will be following up on the progress of the letters for speedy redress. The All India Federation of Other Backward Classes Employees Welfare Associations is a national organisation representing central government and public sector OBC employees and students. It had last successfully campaigned for the implementation of the OBC quota in the all-India quota (NEET AIQ) of state medical colleges.