The Karnataka High Court has directed Karnataka State Law University to implement reservation policies for transgender students in its three-year Bachelor of Laws course, instructing the institution to include the provision in its upcoming admission notification.
A division bench comprising Justice Anu Shivaraman and Justice Venkatesh Naik T ruled that the law university must align its admission guidelines with the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in National Legal Services Authority versus Union of India, which mandated reservations for transgender individuals in educational admissions.
Relaxed Eligibility Criteria Mandated
As part of the ruling, the High Court specified that Karnataka State Law University must ease entry requirements for transgender candidates. The notification must include a provision reducing eligibility criteria for transgender applicants by at least 2 percent or setting it to the lowest threshold among existing reserved categories, whichever option proves more beneficial to the applicant.
The directions were issued during the hearing of an appeal brought by the National Law School of India University. The institution was challenging a single-judge order from December 16, 2024, which had instructed it to establish a transgender reservation policy, offer financial aid, and grant a 0.5 percent interim reservation with a fee waiver to a transgender student denied entry for the 2023-24 academic year.
Case History And University Placement
The candidate originally filed a petition in 2023 seeking implementation of the Karnataka State Policy on Transgenders 2017 after being refused admission. Although an interim court directive previously ordered the university to admit the student if eligible, National Law School of India University later informed the division bench that it could not enroll him.
Observing that the applicant had already lost three years of academic study, the bench directed the state government and the university system to secure admission and financial support for the student at another law college in Karnataka. Legal counsel representing Karnataka State Law University informed the bench that directions had subsequently been given to BMS College of Law and Seshadripuram Law College to reserve a seat for the student.
State Government Policy Considerations
Regarding statewide policy development, Additional Advocate-General Reuben Jacob told the court that the Karnataka State Women Development Corporation had surveyed and gathered data on educational reservations for transgender people. He noted that the corporation could be tasked with submitting a formal reservation proposal to the state government.
Jacob indicated that the government will review the matter and issue appropriate orders concerning transgender reservations in education, taking into account the 1 percent horizontal reservation already established for transgender individuals in public employment.
The High Court scheduled the next hearing on the appeal for August 3.
