Salt Lake: The National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) has offered to set up a law school each modelled on the parent institute in Asansol and Siliguri.

Law minister Malay Ghatak, who is also a member of the NUJS executive council, had suggested to the NUJS in September 2016 to double its seats and set up "two branches". Ghatak's constituency Asansol was one of the recommended locations.

"The state government's proposal to double the seats in the Calcutta institute and establish two branches was examined at various levels.... After evaluating all aspects of the proposal, the executive council of the NUJS is of the opinion that two new national law schools modelled on NUJS should be set up in Asansol and Siliguri instead of having two branches in these two places," vice-chancellor P. Ishwara Bhat told Metro.

According to the proposal, the law schools would be structured like the NUJS. Entry would be on the basis of performance in CLAT (Common Law Admission Test), as is the practice in other law schools

The NUJS, established under the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences Act, 1999, is one of the 19 national law schools in the country. The Bar Council of India granted the institute permanent affiliation in July 2005.

Unlike other state universities, the Chief Justice of India is the chancellor of the NUJS. The institute is self-financed and doesn't receive any funds from the state government.

Metro had reported on October 17, 2016, about the state government's proposal to double the seats and set up two branches.

An executive council meeting held at NUJS recently voted against the idea of having two branches of the university, sources said.