Two aspiring law students, belonging to the general category, have moved Calcutta High Court with a writ petition challenging the constitutionality of the law mandating 30% domicile reservation for admission in West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS).

Two aspiring law students, belonging to the general category, have moved Calcutta High Court with a writ petition challenging the constitutionality of the law mandating a 30% domicile reservation for admission in West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS).

Being prospective candidates at NUJS, these students from Delhi and Mathura have challenged the vires of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (Amendment) Act, 2018 (Amending Act) which introduces Section 4A to the original WBNUJS Act, 1999.

This amendment necessitates reservation for students domiciled in the state of West Bengal to the extent of at least 30% of the total admissions from the academic year 2020-21. The petitioners outrightly contend that the Amending Act is in violation of their rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India. Thus it is sought that the amended provision is struck down as unconstitutional and the notification issued by the University giving effect to the amendment be quashed.

In terms of the amendment passed by the West Bengal assembly in 2018, the State Government decided to implement the reservation from the admissions in 2020.

Arguing that the amendment violates the 50% rule of reservation in spirit, the petitioners point out that after the introduction of 30% domicile reservation, only 44 seats out of a total of 127 seats will be available for Open Category/General Category students.

With 30% domicile reservation and other existing categories of reservations (SC/ST/OBC/EWS/Foreign National, PWD), the available open category seats will be only at 34.64 % of the total number of seats, urge the petitioners.

"The Supreme Court in a host of judgments has held that in institutes of higher learning, merit should be the sole criteria for admission", avers the petition.

Moving on, it is strongly urged that the WBNUJS Act, 1999 confers autonomy to the University and the West Bengal Government cannot arbitrarily alter the policies relating to WBNUJS without following the procedure established under the statute.

Referring to provisions of the 1999 Act, the petition points out the roles and powers of the Executive Council as well as the Academic Council of the University, which include authority to review the functioning and administration of the WBNUJS. Arguing that the Executive council (nor the academic council) of NUJS never discussed or approved the amendment, it is contended that "the 2018 Act is contrary to the WBNUJS Act, 1999 since it was not passed pursuant to the resolutions of the General Council of NUJS which has been specifically empowered to make policy decisions in respect of the University in accordance to the 1999 Act."

Claiming that the Amending Act was passed in haste, without following the procedure laid down under the WBNUJS Act, 1999 the petitioners argue that effectively the State Government has usurped the jurisdiction, authority, and powers of making policy decisions in regards to WBNUJS.

The amendment is "arbitrary, unconscionable and in conflict with the WBNUJS Act, 1999 as it is well settled that where a statute provides for a thing to be done in a particular manner, then it has to be done in that manner, and in no other manner."

Highlighting the grave urgency in the matter, it is argued that the application process is closed and the Admission Test is to be conducted shortly. In this light, if the reservation policy is allowed to be implemented it would lead to the creation of third-party rights which would gravely and irretrievably prejudice the rights of the Petitioners. Thus, seeking interim relief in the form of a stay in the implementation of the policy, it is argued that in case the same is not granted, it would cause irreversible damage to the aspirant law students.

The petition, drafted by advocates Fauzia Shakil and Rohit Das, and filed two weeks ago by advocate Indradip Das, is likely to be listed this week. CLAT 2020 is scheduled for September 28.

Notably, the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday passed an interim order to stay the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Amendment Act 2020 passed by the Karnataka Assembly to grant 25% domicile reservation to Karnataka students in NLSIU, Bengaluru.

The court has also stayed the 5 percent concession on the cut-off score in the admission test to students of Karnataka which was introduced by NLSIU by a notification dated August 4 for granting the impugned reservation.

The horizontal reservation proposed for students from Delhi-NCR in the National Law University, Delhi, was also stayed by the Delhi High Court in June this year.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

*Who is Modi?* commented by *New York Times Editor-in-Chief Joseph Hope

Image
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi " The rise of this man is a threat to the world, as he has not only made enemies of each other's interests in India but also used them.  It only shows the desire to make India a great country.  His sole aim is to make India supreme.  If this person is not blocked, then one day in future India will become a powerful nation around the world and it will surprise the United States. He goes through a specific strategy and no one knows what he wants to do.  A dangerous patriot is hidden behind his smiling face.  He uses all the countries of the world for the benefit of India.    By destroying the US relationship with Pakistan and Afghanistan, and forming alliances with enemies like Vietnam, Modi will see the use of the three countries against China.    Vietnam began producing oil in China's southern seaboard, where it supplies all its oil to India, and the Indian company forced Reliance to wor...
Read more

Achievers who have failed so many times in their life and won the world

Image
The name of some of the greatest figures in life, their faces and their inspirational stories are known all over the world. Everyone praises their outstanding achievement. Most of them are unaware of how many failures they have to rise to such a high-level today. It would be astonishing to know how many great men, such as Henry Ford from Oprah Winfrey, have fought in their lives. Let's look at the lives of the top five achievers in the world who have achieved their failures with success. 1. Oprah Winfrey  Oprah's early career as the first black-colored billionaire was very controversial. His childhood was filled with struggle and frustration. Born into a working-belly family, Oprah had to live in poverty. His mother was a day laborer and his father a small-time laborer. Born into such a difficult family, Oprah succumbed to severe atrocities at the age of 9 to 13. She also had the trauma of getting pregnant at the age of 14. In spite of all the hardships, he has made a...
Read more

Comparison JAVA Perak Vs Royal Enfield Classic 500 Pegasus

Image
JAWA Perak: The new Jawa Perak keeps the bobber design intact with the low-slung and floating single seat with an integrated taillight, teardrop fuel tank, and a low-set and wide handlebar. The pillion seat is optional on the motorcycle. The design of Jawa Perak is distinctively that of the Jawa bikes with the bullet shell-shaped headlight long forks and a distance of 1485 metric linear unit. The  Jawa Perak  gets a blacked-out paint job that undoubtedly appearance alarming and includes the engine further because of the spoked wheels. The big distinction although on the Jawa Perak as compared to alternative Jawa motorcycles is that the larger capacity engine. The  Jawa Perak  uses a 334 cc single-cylinder, DOHC liquid-cooled motor that belts out about 30 bhp and 31 Nm of peak torque. The engine uses a constant 293 cc mill from the Jawa and also the Jawa Forty Two. however, it has been bored bent on turn out additional power. The  Jawa Perak...
Read more