The Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU) in Nagpur has released a new admission notification requiring candidates from reserved categories to take a fresh entrance examination for the 2025 PhD program. Initially, 22 seats were allocated for unreserved candidates and 4 for reserved candidates in February 2026, with classes beginning in April. This change comes after the National Commission for Scheduled Castes issued two notices to the university over alleged non-compliance with reservation policies in the 2025 PhD admissions, as reported by Bar & Bench on June 1.
The original admission notice for the 2025 PhD program at MNLU Nagpur announced a total of 35 seats, with 23 reserved for various categories: 5 for Scheduled Castes (SC), 2 for Scheduled Tribes (ST), 7 for Other Backward Classes (OBC), 4 for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC), and 1 each for De-notified Tribes (A), Nomadic Tribes (B), Nomadic Tribes (C), Nomadic Tribes (D), and Special Backward Classes. The remaining 12 seats were unreserved. The notification also specified reservation percentages: SC at 13%, ST at 7%, OBC at 19%, SEBC at 12%, among others.
However, the provisional selection list released on February 3, 2026, included 26 candidates eligible for admission, with 22 under the unreserved category, 3 under OBC, and 1 under Nomadic Tribes (B). No candidates were admitted under SC, ST, SEBC, De-notified Tribes (A), Nomadic Tribes (C), Nomadic Tribes (D), or Special Backward Classes.
Among those excluded was Dipak Namdev Kharat, a candidate from the NT-C category who applied for the Nomadic Tribes (C) reserved seat. Kharat passed the entrance exam on October 3, 2025, and attended his interview on January 5, 2026. After Kharat appealed to the Bombay High Court, the university submitted an affidavit acknowledging the withdrawal of an unnotified 50% benchmark for reserved categories, considering Kharat’s application for the 2025 PhD batch.
The university has now announced a vacancy round for 19 reserved category seats, including 5 SC, 2 ST, 4 OBC, 4 SEBC, 1 DNT(A), 1 NT(B), 1 NT(D), and 1 SBC. A new entrance exam is scheduled for July 19, 2026, with applications due by July 6. These seats are considered unfilled from the original 2025 batch, bringing the total intake to 45 seats. However, the prescribed reservation percentages suggest higher allocations than what has been offered across both admission rounds.
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For example, the OBC category, with a 19% reservation, should have approximately 9 seats for a 45-seat intake, yet only 7 have been allocated. Similarly, SC, with a 13% reservation, should have approximately 6 seats, but only 5 have been allocated. ST, with a 7% reservation, should have 3 seats, yet only 2 have been allocated, while SEBC, with a 12% reservation, should have 5 seats, but only 4 have been allocated.
As a result, the 2025 PhD batch has undergone two distinct admission processes. Reserved category candidates who succeed in the July entrance exam will join a cohort where unreserved candidates have already commenced classes months earlier. Bar & Bench has attempted to contact MNLU Nagpur’s administration for comments, but without success.
