Bhubaneswar: Senior BJD MLA Pradeep Maharathy Friday demanded that 25 per cent seats in the National Law University (NLU), Cuttack be reserved for the students of Odisha.
Maharathy raised the issue in the Assembly and sought a ruling from the Speaker. He said while students of other states avail domicile quota in the NLUs in their states, the Odisha students have been debarred from the facility.
“It is a matter of great concern for the students of Odisha. The NLU was established in Cuttack in 2009 with support of the state government and availed 25 acre of prime land free of cost. However, it continued to deny domicile quota to the state students,” Maharathy said.
He claimed that the authorities of NLU, Cuttack are adamant on their decision to deny justice to Odisha students.
“The NLU refuses to make the domicile quota provision even after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote a letter in this regard,” he added.
A release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office had earlier said that the move (to reserve 25 per cent seats for Odisha students) will immensely benefit students from the state. Students from Odisha scoring 60 per cent marks in their Class XII examinations should be eligible for the reserved seats, it said.
Maharathy said Odisha has a lot of contribution towards judicial system of the country. “Odisha’s Ranganath Misra, Deepak Misra and G B Patnaik have already become Chief Justice of India. The NLU should therefore give opportunities to Odisha students as being availed in other states,” he said.
He said NLUs in 18 other states have domicile quota provision while the authorities of NLU, Cuttack deny the facility to local youths.
Maharathy also said that the authorities of NLU, Cuttack have been avoiding to implement domicile quota on the plea that introduction of such system would dilute standard of the institute.
