New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the National Law School of India University’s (NLSIU), Bengaluru, revised admission notification of reserving 25 percent seats for Karnataka students.

A Special Leave Petition was filed by the State of Karnataka challenging the October 2020 judgment of the High Court which had struck down the amendment act passed by the Karnataka Assembly to provide 25 percent horizontal reservation for students.

Senior Advocate Gopal Shankaranarayan argued that the revised admission notification was an attempt to get over the High Court’s judgment. Shankaranarayan challenged that the State Government has no study to claim that Karnataka students are backward or deprived and also the Apex Court in a judgment has prohibited last minute changes in the admission schedule.

However, Advocate General of Karnataka Prabhuling Navadgi told the Apex Court that the High Court has struck down the reservation observing that Assembly does not have powers to introduce reservation in the NLSIU but stated that the institution if it wants, can provide reservations.

A Bench comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat allowed the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) to go on, as scheduled on July 23 and refused to interfere with the NLSIU’s revised admission notification.

“There is no interim order. List the matter in August. The exams will go on”, Justice Rao said and posted the matter to August.

The NLSIU has stated that it is going with the reservation to increase the diversity of its students and facilitate greater access to marginalised or underprivileged sections of the society in a phased manner.