National Law Universities

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Locations of National Law Universities

National Law Universities (NLU) are public law schools in India, founded pursuant to the second-generation reforms for legal education sought to be implemented by the Bar Council of India. [1] [2] The first NLU was the National Law School of India University aka NLS/NLU Bangalore which admitted its first batch in 1988. Since then, most of the states in India have NLUs. Currently there are 27 NLUs across the country out of which one is an off-centre campus of Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, GNLU SILVASSA Campus. Since the inception of the NLUs, these law schools have continuously been ranked as some of the most prestigious and premier law schools within India and abroad by various agencies and are also referred as the IITs of Legal Education. [3] [4]

Contents

The admissions to these universities is conducted through the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) except in the case of National Law University, Delhi, which admits students through its own entrance examination named as All India Law Entrance Test (AILET). NLU Meghalaya also has its own admission / entrance test named Meghalaya Undergraduate Admission Test (UAT), Postgradraduate Admission Test (PAT) and PhD Entrance Test (PET). CLAT which is also known as the main gateway to NLUs has been ranked as one of the top five toughest entrance examinations in India. India International University of Legal Education and Research (IIULER) Goa is the latest entry to Consortium on November 2024 but it is a Private University under Section 2(f) of UGC Act, 1956. Thus, IIULER is not a National Law University (NLU) like other universities in CLAT Consortium since it's not a Public Government Funded University. It is owned and managed by Bar Council of India Trust - PEARL FIRST (BCIT-PF) which is an independent body that is not a part of Bar Council of India (BCI).

NLUs have Chief Justice of India (CJI) and various Chief Justices of Respective High Courts as their Chancellors and visiting professors. Many retired judges and bureaucrats are also here as permanent faculty and Vice-Chancellors.

National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, India National Law School of India University, Bangalore, India - 20130524-01.JPG
National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, India
National Law University, Delhi National Law University, Delhi 2.jpg
National Law University, Delhi
NALSAR, Hyderabad Nalsar gate entrance.jpg
NALSAR, Hyderabad
The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata (front entrance, 2006).jpg
The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar GNLU Preamble with Indian flag.jpg
Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar

History

Traditionally legal education in India was conducted through the medium of non-specialized universities of India which granted law degrees like any other graduate degree. These universities referred and taught the curriculum prescribed by the Bar Council of India, but since they were under the overall control and supervision of the University Grants Commission, therefore it was not possible for the Bar Council to effectively pursue reforms in legal education.

This system continued for more than two decades with the overall legal education supervision by the Bar Council, since its establishment in terms of the Advocates Act, 1961. [5] However, there were calls for reforms from all quarters of the country in general because of the falling standards of the bar and there were mounting pressures over the Bar Council of India to change the way legal education was imparted in India.

The first concrete decision to this end was taken in 1984 when various proposals to modernize legal education were considered and approved by the Legal Education Committee of the Bar Council, in an attempt to improve legal education throughout India. One major proposal was the decision to establish specialized institutions to impart legal education in an integrated and diversified manner. The aim was to revitalize the legal profession by making law an attractive profession and making it competitive to attract talent, which was hitherto diverted to other professional areas such as medicine and engineering.

Structure

In contrast with the existing pattern of legal education in India, the proposed autonomous law schools varied in structural design and in various other respects. Some of these can be identified through the characteristics they carry:

List of National Law Universities [NLUs]

No. NIRF ranking InstituteAbbreviationEstablishedCityState/UT
11 National Law School of India University NLSIU1986 Bengaluru Karnataka
218 National Law Institute University NLIU1997 Bhopal Madhya Pradesh
33 National Academy of Legal Studies and Research NALSAR1998 Hyderabad Telangana
44 West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences WBNUJS1999 Kolkata West Bengal
5-- National Law University Jodhpur NLUJ1999 Jodhpur Rajasthan
67 Gujarat National Law University GNLU2003 Gandhinagar Gujarat
7-- Hidayatullah National Law University HNLU2003 Naya Raipur Chhattisgarh
823 Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University RMLNLU2005 Lucknow Uttar Pradesh
938 National University of Advanced Legal Studies NUALS2005 Kochi Kerala
1020 Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law RGNUL2006 Patiala Punjab
1131 Chanakya National Law University CNLU2006 Patna Bihar
122 National Law University Delhi NLUD2008 New Delhi Delhi
1339 Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University DSNLU2008 Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh
1430 National Law University Odisha NLUO2009 Cuttack Odisha
1524 National University of Study and Research in Law NUSRL2010 Ranchi Jharkhand
1628 National Law University and Judicial Academy NLUJA2009 [a] Guwahati Assam
17-- Tamil Nadu National Law University TNNLU2012 Tiruchirapalli Tamil Nadu
1831 Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai MNLUM2014 Mumbai Maharashtra
1934 Maharashtra National Law University Nagpur MNLUN2016 Nagpur Maharashtra
20-- Himachal Pradesh National Law University HPNLU2016 Shimla Himachal Pradesh
21-- Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad MNLUA2017 Aurangabad Maharashtra
22-- Dharmashastra National Law University DNLU2018 Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh
23-- Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Law University DBRANLU2012 [b] Sonipat Haryana
24-- National Law University Tripura NLUT2022 Agartala Tripura
25-- Gujarat National Law University, Silvassa CampusGNLUS2023 Silvassa Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu
26-- National Law University Meghalaya NLU MEG2023 Shillong Meghalaya
27- Dr. Rajendra Prasad National Law University RPNLU2024 Prayagraj Uttar Pradesh
28- India International University of Legal Education and Research [6] IIULER2025 South Goa Goa
29-- National Law University Sikkim NLU SIKKIM2018 Gangtok Sikkim

See also

Notes

  1. Academic sessions began only in 2011.
  2. Academic sessions began only in 2019.

References

  1. "India's Top National Law Universities (NLUs)". lawentrance.com. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  2. "What are NLUs (National Law Universities)? How are these Different from Other Law Schools". shiksha.com. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  3. "India's Best Law Colleges 2019". India Today. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  4. "NIRF Law school ranking". National Institutional Ranking Framework. Ministry of Education, Government of India. 2023. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  5. Advocates Act, 1961
  6. https://consortiumofnlus.ac.in/clat-2025/participating_universities.html