In a 10am hearing this morning, the Supreme Court declined to stay the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) scheduled to start at 2pm today, over a last minute plea by a Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) aspirant.
The plea, filed on Saturday, 26 September, by the aspirant via advocate Garima Prashad through advocates Sumit Chander and Vinay Kumar, had asked for a stay or other orders regarding the exam, as first been reported by LiveLaw.
We understand the Supreme Court this morning issued an order to the CLAT consortium allowing the petitioner to take the exam, which the CLAT did not contest, stating that it continued to provide isolation rooms at each exam centre.
According to the petitioner, who was in isolation due to his parents having tested positive for Covid-19, he was seeking clarification on the CLAT’s position to provide separate isolation rooms for those exhibiting Covid symptoms. According to a statement from the petitioner:
It is pertinent to mention here that the impleadment application has sought clarification to the aforementioned judgment and the assurance given via a YouTube live session by NLSIU Bangalore’s Vice Chancellor Sudhir Krishnaswamy for exam centres to have isolation rooms for symptomatic students so that they could take the exam smoothly. The applicant has alleged an infringement of his fundamental right under article 14 of the constitution.
The issue had recently re-surfaced on 24 September, after the Times of India had reported that NUJS Kolkata vice-chancellor (VC) had promised he would speak to the CLAT consortium about what could be done for Covid-19-positive test takers.
The consortium had quickly issued a statement on its website after that article, clarifying:
NOTE: As per Government of India guidelines COVID-19 positive candidates won’t be allowed. This is being done in larger public interest and to protect other candidates.
It is understood that part of the issue is a public health issue, in that those who have actually themselves recently tested positive for Covid are often not allowed to leave their self-isolation by law.
However, the CLAT has organised separate rooms for those who exhibit fever or other Covid-like symptoms at the exam hall door.
The CLAT submitted in court today that such rooms would continue to be available today.
Update 11:20: Bar & Bench has just reported more details from the hearing:
However, the Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah clarified that this order was only limited to the applicant and had no bearing on any other student.
Though Advocate Sumit Chander urged the Court to pass similar orders for other similarly placed students, it refused to pass any such blanket order.
“You are only wasting the Court’s time,” observed Justice Bhushan.
Test day today
That said, today is also the day of the CLAT, which is due to start at 2pm.
After the chequered experiences by some candidates on Saturday (26 September) for the NLU Delhi All India Law Entrance Test (AILET), it’s only fair to ask how the CLAT today is and will be going for up to 77,000 candidates.
The CLAT today is for potentially four times as many candidates as the AILET, which may have seen around 20,000 candidates register (though NLU Delhi has not officially confirmed any figures to date).
AILET complaints ranged from inability to book test centres in cities due to an insufficient number available, to test centre hardware, internet connectivity and inexpert invigilation causing delays and frustration for candidates.
The AILET had been administered by the government’s National Testing Agency (NTA), which had been blamed by some candidates for the issues.
By contrast, fortunately for CLAT aspirants, we understand that the NTA is not carrying out roday’s exam; CLAT officials would not confirm the name of its vendor for the 240+ test centres due to wanting to reduce any risks to the integrity of the exam.
The short-lived National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT), which had been conducted at short notice as a CLAT-replacement as an online-home-proctored exam by NLSIU Bangalore, had also seen serious complaints on and before exam day(s) and was eventually quashed by the Supreme Court.
In any case, here’s to hoping for the best, and wishing good luck and a mostly stress free experience to all candidates today, despite the unusual circumstances.