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20. We have perused the record of discussion between the Vice- Chancellor NLU, Chief Secretary, GNCTD and the Secretary (Higher Education), GNCTD, held on 23.12.2019, wherein it was informed that till date, NLU, Delhi had not agreed to provide 85 per cent reservation to students of Delhi as is being done by all the other State Universities. The minutes also record that the University must finalise the proposals to provide reservation on priority since the matter has been pending for several years. We have also perused the letter dated 06.03.2020 sent by the Directorate of Higher Education, Government of NCT Delhi to the Respondent No. 3/NLU wherein it has been stated that almost all higher educational institutions of the Delhi Government are providing 85% reservation to students of Delhi and till the time the necessary reservation is provided by the NLU, Delhi Government would continue to provide grant for the basic maintenance and salary expenditure of the National Law University. The Respondent No. 1 and 2/GNCTD in Paragraph No. 8 (i) of its counter has specifically stated that it is not satisfied with Respondent No. 3/NLU providing only 50% reservation and will release the additional funds of Rs. 285 Crores only when the university provides 85% horizontal reservation for Delhi students and till then it will only continue to provide the basic maintenance and salary expenditure.

29. Respondent No.3/NLU, Delhi has been established by the National Law University Act. The purpose of bringing out the Act was to encourage establishment of a National level institute of excellence in the field of education and research in the NCT of Delhi. In furtherance to this object, the NCT of Delhi and Delhi High Court took upon themselves the task of completing the project of developing an integrated complex and established the National Law School at Delhi.

30. Section 4 of the NLU Act lays down the objects of the NLU Act. The Chancellor of the University is the Chief Justice of the High Court. A perusal of the Act shows that the Governing Council is the Supreme body which decides on the policies of the University. Section 11 lays down composition of the members of the Governing Council which has been highlighted in the foregoing paras. Pertinently, the Chief Secretary, NCT of Delhi, Principal Secretary (Finance), Secretary (Higher Education) and the Principal Secretary (Law, Justice and Legislative Affairs) are members of the Governing Council. Section 12 of the NLU Act describes the powers, functions and meetings of the Governing Council. Section 12(1)(a) describes the powers of the Governing Council, which is the plenary authority in the University and formulates and reviews from time to time, the broad policies and programmes of the University and devises measures of improvement and development of the University.

Registrar, NLU Delhi.

                                                 The      recommendations      of
                                                 Committee may be placed
                                                 before the Governing Council
                                                 for consideration.

33. A perusal of the above meeting would show that the issue as to whether there should be reservation for students of Delhi was pending before the Governing Council. The Governing Council had constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Hon'ble Justice N.V. Ramana, Judge, Supreme Court, which included Chief Secretary, NCT Delhi, and Secretary, Higher Education, Government of Delhi and the Registrar, NLU, Delhi. The said Committee was to examine the entire issue and forward its recommendations to the Governing Council. There is nothing placed on record to demonstrate that any recommendation was placed before the Governing Council, which is the only body constituted under the NLU Act to take decisions on all important matters relating to the University and its functioning. In this scenario, there was no justification for the respondent No.3/NLU, Delhi to have decided to bypass the Governing Council and proceed to reserve seats for candidates passing the qualifying examination from a recognised school/college/institute situated within NCT of Delhi on the strength of the decision of the Vice Chancellor of the Respondent No. 3/NLU which is purported to have been taken in exercise of the power conferred under Section 20(7) of the NLU Act. Section 20(7) of the NLU Act reads as under :

This proposition has been later on reiterated in Chandra Kishore Jha v. Mahavir Prasad [(1999) 8 SCC 266] , Dhanajaya Reddy v. State of Karnataka [(2001) 4 SCC 9 : 2001 SCC (Cri) 652] and Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. v. Essar Power Ltd. [(2008) 4 SCC 755]"

39. In our opinion, the decision for providing horizontal reservation has been taken by the respondent No.3/NLU, Delhi in haste without acting in accordance with the NLU Act. We are of the opinion that if the impugned notification is not stayed, grave prejudice would be caused to the students who would be applying for admission in the respondent No.3/NLU, Delhi for the academic year 2020-21. In fact, staying the operation of the impugned notification insofar as horizonal reservation of seats for students belonging to Delhi has been provided for the academic year 2020-21, would result in inviting a larger section of students. In the course of submissions, it was brought to our notice that as against 24,000 applications for admission received by the respondent No.3/NLU, Delhi last year, this year, the number of applications have dwindled to 18,000 (approx.). This significant reduction in the number of applications received by the respondent No.3/NLU, Delhi, is a telling comment on the change made in the admission policy for the academic year 2020-21.