10 additional seats to be provided for Karnataka students in NLSIU

NLSIU Bengaluru offers 10 additional seats for Karnataka students in BA LLB (Hons) Programme for 2025-26 academic year.

Starting from the 2025-26 academic year, the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, will reserve an additional 10 seats for Karnataka students in its BA LLB (Hons) programme. This is in addition to the horizontal reservation of 25% of the total intake already in place.

The total intake will increase from 300 to 310, with the 10 additional seats being filled through the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) based on merit. With this addition, a total of 85 seats will be reserved for Karnataka students under the horizontal reservation from the 2025-26 academic year.

The decision follows a proposal from Bangalore University, which requested NLSIU to reserve 10 seats for local students in exchange for allotting an additional seven acres of land on its Jnana Bharathi campus for NLSIU’s expansion. The proposal was discussed with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Higher Education Minister M.C. Sudhakar before being finalised.

Since implementing the 25% horizontal reservation for Karnataka students in 2021, NLSIU has allocated 43 seats in 2021-22, 78 in 2022-23, and 115 in 2023-24 across its BA LLB (Hons), LLB, and LLM programmes.

To qualify as a Karnataka student, candidates must have studied for at least 10 years in a recognised educational institution in the State. They must provide study certificates from accredited institutions attesting to this during counselling.

Students who have not completed 10 years of education in Karnataka may still be eligible under specific categories, like children of defence personnel or ex-servicemen whose hometown was declared as Karnataka at the time of joining service; children of State government employees who served outside Karnataka during the candidate’s period of education outside the State, and children of All India Service officers (IAS/IPS/IFS) from the Karnataka cadre.

If the candidate studied in Karnataka for only three years, their parents must have served outside Karnataka for at least seven years. If a candidate has not studied in Karnataka continuously for at least one year, they must prove that their parents were serving outside Karnataka for at least 10 years, corresponding to their own period of study outside.