Bhubaneswar: The Orissa High Court has directed NLU Odisha (NLUO) to consider admitting a law aspirant who lost an academic year after the university mistakenly allowed her to seek admission under the Odisha domicile quota, or pay her Rs 1 lakh as compensation.
A Division Bench of Justice BP Routray and Justice Savitri Ratho passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Punyatoya Barma, who secured All India Rank 61 and Odisha Domicile Rank 6 in the entrance examination for the three-year LLB programme for 2026-27.
Barma had completed her Class XII from a school in Baragada but pursued her undergraduate degree at Kalinga University in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. She contended that NLUO had initially indicated that candidates seeking admission under the Odisha domicile quota needed to have passed Class XII in the state. She was subsequently permitted to take the entrance test and was granted provisional admission.
NLUO later contended that the applicable admission criteria for 2026-27 required domicile-quota candidates to have completed their undergraduate course from a recognised institution in Odisha, with at least 60 per cent marks.
The High Court held that the applicable notification clearly stipulated graduation from an institution in Odisha and, having graduated from an institution in Chhattisgarh, Barma did not meet the prescribed eligibility condition.
The Bench also rejected her plea based on the principle of estoppel, citing Supreme Court precedents that an erroneous selection made contrary to statutory or prescribed eligibility conditions cannot create a right to appointment or admission.
At the same time, the court noted that Barma was not responsible for the error and had lost an academic year after acting on the university’s provisional admission.
The Bench directed NLUO to admit her if a seat becomes vacant by November 30. In the event no seat is offered, the university has been ordered to pay her Rs 1 lakh as symbolic compensation.
The court made it clear that the direction would not be treated as a precedent.
