No campus, no students as Uttarakhand’s NLU remains on paper

The recent student protests at some National Law Universities (NLUs) over institutional accountability have put the spotlight on Uttarakhand, where 15 years after its Assembly approved a law to establish a National Law University, the State does not have a functional NLU.

The delay stands out when compared with the two other States created in November 2000 — Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

While Chhattisgarh established the Hidayatullah National Law University in Raipur in 2003, Jharkhand set up the National University of Study and Research in Law in Ranchi in 2010.

Speaking to The Hindu, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said students of the State are suffering because of the delay in setting up an NLU campus. “This issue has been caught in the BJP’s petty internal politics but students are paying a price,” he said.

The Uttarakhand legislature passed the National Law University act in 2011. Fifteen years later, however, the proposed institution has neither a permanent campus nor a first batch of students. Its location has shifted repeatedly: from Bhowali in Nainital district to Pantnagar in Udham Singh Nagar and Ranipokhari near Dehradun and now Haldwani under consideration.

The uncertainty over Uttarakhand’s NLU site eventually reached the High Court, which in 2018 directed the State government to establish the university. The court also made clear that academic sessions need not wait for a permanent campus and could begin from a government building or rented premises.

In 2019, then Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat laid the foundation stone at Ranipokhari for what was projected as the country’s 23rd NLU. Seven years later, the university remains non-functional.

Students from the State continue to seek admission in NLUs elsewhere, often bearing higher accommodation and travel costs and losing access to domicile-linked opportunities available in some institutions.

The absence of an NLU is particularly significant for a Himalayan State facing complex questions relating to environmental disputes, forest rights, disasters, land laws and migration.