The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the six National Law Universities (NLUs) of the country to reserve 5% of the seats for specially-abled students. National Law University, Orissa , National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi, Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur, Hidayatullah National Law University Raipur , Maharashtra National Law University Aurangabad are the NLUs that have been issued notices by the supreme court.
The notices regarding the reservation for PwD candidates was issued after a petition was filed by a trainee of a non-profit organization.
However, Justice LN Rao and Justice SA Bobde observed that the benefit of 5% quota may not be possible for the 2018-19 academic year as all the law admissions in these colleges are almost complete. But the petitioner’s advocate stated that in a PIL filed by Shamnad Basheer, the court has already made all admissions as per the reservation quotas for PwD and NRI students subject to the outcome of the respective petition.
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The RPwD Act came into existence on 30th December 2016 stating that all higher education institutes which receive a grant from the government should reserve 5% seats for persons with disabilities. Therefore, as per the petition, the respective act shall be made applicable to CLAT 2018 and shall reflect in 2018-19 academic year.
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According to the filed petition, despite the mandate of RPwD Act, many National Law Universities are still not providing 5% reservation for PwD candidates.