The Delhi High Court today has refused to entertain the petition challenging the National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which provides 25% domicile reservation at National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore.
The bench comprising Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad while disposing of the petition observed that the Delhi High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the plea since the law has been passed by the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and also the university is situated in Karnataka, hence the petition ought to have been filed before the appropriate High Court.
Advocate Shadan Farasat appearing for the petitioners however argued that he was invoking section 226 (2) of the Constitution which empowers the High court to hear matters on the basis of “cause of action jurisdiction”. He further submitted that the petitioner is a student of law residing in Delhi and who is appearing for CLAT 2020 whereas the university conducts exams throughout the country, hence the Court had jurisdiction to entertain the petitioner’s plea.
The bench however dismissing the petition advised the petitioner to approach the appropriate court. The petition filed by Shubham Kumar Jha challenges the constitutional validity of NLSIU Amendment Act 2020 by virtue of which proviso to section 4 of the Act has been inserted which states that “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act and the regulations made thereunder, the school shall reserve horizontally twenty five percent of seats for students of Karnataka.”
-India Legal Bureau