The Punjab and Haryana High Court has shut the door on a plea seeking a 27% OBC reservation in admissions to Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL), Patiala, drawing a clear line between constitutional possibility and legal compulsion.
A Division Bench led by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry delivered a crisp verdict: the Constitution permits reservation but doesn’t demand it. The discretion lies with the State—and in this case, RGNUL wasn’t bound to follow the Central script.
The petitioner, a Jat Sikh woman who belongs to a recognized Backward Class in Punjab, argued that RGNUL’s refusal to reserve 27% of its seats for OBCs was discriminatory and out of sync with the policies followed by other National Law Universities. Her legal team leaned on the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, which mandates such reservations in institutions under Central control.
But the Court wasn’t convinced.
RGNUL, it noted, is not a “Central Educational Institution” under the Act, and therefore, the Act’s 27% quota provision cannot be superimposed. The Court emphasized that RGNUL is governed by its own law—the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law Punjab Act, 2006—and its admissions fall under regulations framed independently under that law.
Notably, the University’s Executive Council has already set aside two seats for OBC candidates in its flagship five-year BA LLB (Hons.) program. The Court found no fault in this limited provision, and dismissed the argument that a 27% quota should be applied by default.
“In the absence of a statutory mandate, there’s no constitutional violation,” the judges observed, underlining that enabling provisions don’t equal obligations.
With no binding legal requirement for RGNUL to expand its OBC reservation to 27%, and no demonstrated illegality in the current system, the plea was dismissed—leaving the current seat structure untouched.
The petitioner’s arguments were met by responses from multiple fronts, with representation from the Union of India, RGNUL, and the University Grants Commission—all standing firm on the autonomy of the institution and the limits of central legislation.
Bottom line: when it comes to reservations at RGNUL, it’s the university’s rulebook that calls the shots—not the Centre’s.
