NLU Odisha general council has announced on Saturday that it would reserve 25% of its seats for state residents for both its post- and undergraduate law degrees, up from around 21.7% in its current undergraduate prospectus and around 24% in its current post-graduate programme.

Cuttack’s is the latest national law university (NLU) making an apparent political concessions to its founding state government, which usually provide the majority of each NLU’s funding.

The notification states that undergraduates would have to have passed 12th class or equivalent exams from an Odisha-based school, while post-graduates need to have passed an undergraduate programme in the state.

NLUO vice-chancellor Prof Srikishna Deva Rao said that this, in addition to securing a minimum of marks as specified above, would be the only requirement in qualifying under the state reservation, unlike in different states, making this a “very progressive” quota policy.

NLSIU Bangalore, for instance, has proposed the 25% quota to apply to students who’ve studied in Karnataka for at least 10 years. NUJS Kolkata has also announced a 30% reservation for students who’ve been in West Bengal for at least 10 years, or to those whose parents are resident in the state.

Rao confirmed that the quota would be implemented from this incoming academic year via the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT).

The move follows Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s announcement of such quota last year, said Rao, and discussions with the state government.

The total number of seats in the BA and BBA LLB programmes would remain at 180, Rao added, including the 25% state reservation and seats set aside for candidates from scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (STs) and persons with disability (PwD).

NLUO’s CLAT brochure would be updated with the new quota from tomorrow on the official CLAT consortium’s website.

Its current brochure (see below) does mention an Odisha domicile reservation of around 22% in several categories, but it is understood that the revision will increase this number.