After the completion of its entrance exam, the National Law University-Delhi (NLU-Delhi) has increased the number of seats, a move that has drawn criticism from students. NLU initially notified the availability of 40 seats, a number that included five seats for foreign students.

However, it seems that students who have not attempted the NLU-Delhi entrance exam because of the slim chance of success – since there were only 40 seats advertised – are up in arms against the decision to increase the number of seats. Apparently some students feel that had they known about the new number of seats available, they would have applied for the NLU-Delhi entrance exam.

According to an Indian Express article citing an IANS report, lawyer Mohit Gupta has filed an RTI query requesting access to the minutes of the meetings that led to the decision to increase the number of NLU seats.

On the other hand, the University sees the move as legitimate. The University has reportedly confirmed to IANS that this was done to give a “wider reach of legal education to society”. It says that the decision to increase the number of seats is in accordance with the advertisement, which stated that the “number of seats may vary”.

“It may be noted that the increase in seats is not at all unfair on the part of the University. Rather it is a step to encourage the study of law so that more teachers and researchers are available in this field. Moreover, the action taken by the University to increase the number of seats was also approved by the Academic Council and Executive Council,” NLU-D Registrar G.S. Bajpai reportedly told IANS.

The NLU-Delhi law entrance exam was conducted on May 6th this year. The notification in which the increase in seats has been specified was issued on June 27th, just five days before the NLU-Delhi law entrance results were declared (July 2nd).