Cuttack, July 23: The poor representation of Odisha students at the National Law University of Odisha (NLUO) in the city is another instance of students from the state not faring well in all-India competitive examinations.

“Admissions at NLUO are being done based on ranks scored by students in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT),” said acting vice-chancellor Priyambada Mohanty Hejmadi.

Of the 600-odd students, there are only 75 students from the state pursuing different undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

“Cracking the CLAT is a tough job due to cut-throat competition among students,” said Shreyan Das, a third-year BBA, LLB student.

Das, who cleared CLAT in 2012, said the competition was mainly due to the increasing number of students seeking admissions in law universities in the country.

At present, there are only 1,500 seats in the different law universities in the country while the number of applicants appearing is a little over 50,000.

“NLU’s are considered the IITs in legal education and one just needs to focus on certain factors which are essential in clearing the CLAT including basic knowledge about legal reasoning,” said Master Debasish, another third year student.

Debasish said clearing the CLAT was quite tough because the negative marking system was in place.

Odisha State Bar Council’s former chairman Gopal Krushna Mohanty, however, said that the NLUO should have a state quota.

“There should be reservation for students from the state. There are provisions in other law universities for local students,” Mohanty argued.

Official sources said that there is a domicile quota for students in other National Law Universities including in Ranchi, Kochi, Assam, Patna, Patiala, Lucknow, Gandhinagar, Raipur, Bhopal and Hyderabad.

Reservations at this law universities range between 10 and 20 per cent besides SC, ST and disability quota.

However, another section of students feels there should not be any domicile quota because it would affect the quality of education at the varsity.

The National Law University, Odisha, was established in 2008 by an act of the Assembly.

The university started functioning from a rented building in 2009 while it shifted to its own campus after the state government provided land and other financial assistance.

The new campus is spread over 50 acres at Naraj was inaugurated by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in 2012.

The National Law University meets its financial requirements by tuition fees and the state government also provides grants and assists in developing infrastructure.

Sources said the issue of reservation for students from Odisha was raised at the last executive council meeting of NLUO held in May. But matter was deferred for discussion at the next executive council meeting.