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Common Law Admission Test

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Common Law Admission Test
Consortium of NLUs
AcronymCLAT
TypePen-and-paper-based
AdministratorConsortium of NLUs, Bar Council of India
Skills testedLegal Reasoning, Logical reasoning, English Comprehension, General knowledge Current Affairs, Quantitative Techniques
PurposeEntrance to National Law Universities, Self-financed law colleges, PSUs & Indian Army (JAG OFFICERS)
Year started2008 (2008)
Duration2 Hours
Score range-30 to 120
Score validity1 year
OfferedYearly
Restrictions on attemptsNone
RegionsIndia
LanguagesEnglish
Annual number of test takersMore than 1,00,000
PrerequisitesSenior Secondary Exam, High School in any stream (for UG courses)
Graduation in law ( for PG courses)
Fee4,000 INR
Used by(National Law Universities) & other Private Law Colleges, PSUs, Indian Army.
Qualification rateApp. 3%
Websiteconsortiumofnlus.ac.in

The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a centralized national-level entrance test for admissions to the 25 out of 27 National Law Universities (NLU) except NLU Delhi and NLU Meghalaya. CLAT was first introduced in 2008 as a centralized entrance examination for admission to the National Law Schools/Universities in India.[1]

NLU Delhi and NLU Meghalaya administer their own entrance exams, the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) and the NLU Meg Undergraduate Admission Test (MEG UAT), respectively. Both AILET & MEG UAT are anticipated to be merged into CLAT in the coming years.[2] A few private and self-financed law schools in India also use these scores for law admissions. Public sector undertakings in India like ONGC, Coal India, BHEL, the Steel Authority of India, Oil India, the Indian Army (for the recruitment of Judge Advocate General officers) use CLAT Post Graduation (CLAT PG) scores.

The test is taken after the Higher Secondary Examination or the 12th grade for admission to integrated undergraduate degrees in Law (BA/BBA/B.COM/B.SC/BSW LLB) and after graduation in an undergraduate law program for Master of Laws (LL.M) programs. It is considered one of the TOP 10 toughest entrance examinations in India with the acceptance rate being as low as 3 percent.[3]

Background

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See also: Legal education § India, and Autonomous law schools in India

Before the introduction of Common Law Admission Test, the National Law Universities conducted their own separate entrance tests, requiring the candidates to prepare and appear separately for each of these tests. The schedule of the administration of these tests sometimes conflicted with the other or with other major entrance tests such as the Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test. This caused students to miss tests and experience much stress.[4]

There are 26 NLUs in India out of which 1 NLU is an off-centre campus of GNLU known as GNLUS, the first NLU in the country is National Law School of India University / NLU Bangalore, which admitted its first batch of students in 1988. Out of 26 NLUs, National Law University, Delhi conducts its own separate entrance test known as All India Law Entrance Test.[5] With the emergence of other law schools, which also sought to conduct their admission tests at around the same time, students faced a hard time preparing for them. From time to time this issue to conduct a common entrance exam to reduce the burden of the students to give multiple test was raised, but given the autonomous status of each law school, there was no nodal agency to co-ordinate action to this regard.[6]

The matter drew national attention when a Public Interest Litigation was filed by Varun Bhagat against the Union of India and various National Law Universities in the Supreme Court of India in 2006. The Chief Justice of India directed the Union of India to consult with the National Law Universities to formulate a common test. The move was strongly supported by the Bar Council of India.[7][8]

Given the lack of a central nodal authority to bring forth a consensus on the issue, the Ministry of Human Resources Development, (Government of India) and the University Grants Commission of India organised a meeting of the Vice-Chancellors of seven National Law Universities along with the Chairman of the Bar Council of India. After a few such meetings, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Vice-Chancellors of the seven National Law Universities on 23 November 2007 to conduct a common admission test. The Common Law Admission Test was to be conducted each year by each of the law colleges and the responsibility of conducting the exam was to be rotated and given on the basis of seniority in the establishment. Nonetheless, the matter has not been resolved completely as there are other national law universities that were not taking part in CLAT. However, finally in 2015, a fresh MoU was signed by the sixteen National Law Universities, except for National Law University, Delhi for the CLAT 2015 being conducted by Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow whereby all the National Law Universities are now part of the centralized admission process without anyone being left out.[9]

The Consortium of National Law Universities was established on 19 August 2017 with the aim of improving the standard of legal education in the country and justice system through legal education with Prof. R. Venkata Rao, erstwhile Vice-Chancellor, NLSIU as President and Prof. Faizan Mustafa, Vice-Chancellor, NALSAR, as Vice-President.[10]

CLAT examination gained further prominence when in 2023, for the first time, Delhi University's Faculty of Law inaugurated its own 5 Year Integrated LLB Programme. Students can now take admission into the programme on the basis of their CLAT scores itself.

Eligibility

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Only Indian nationals and NRIs can appear in the test. The foreign nationals desirous of taking admission to any course in any of the participating Law Universities may directly contact the concerned University having seats for foreign nationals.[11] The Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) releases the CLAT eligibility criteria mentions details regarding the minimum educational qualification, minimum marks and age limit.[citation needed]

The eligibility requirements are as follows:

Under-graduate courses

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Senior Secondary School/Intermediate (10+2) or its equivalent certificate from a recognized Board with not less than 45% marks in aggregate (40% in case of SC and ST candidates). There is no upper age restriction for the test.[12]

Post-graduate courses

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LL. B/B. L. Degree or an equivalent degree from a recognized University with not less than 50% marks in aggregate (45% in case of SC and ST candidates). The candidates who have passed the qualifying degree examination through supplementary/ compartment and repeat attempts are also eligible for appearing in the test and taking Admission provided that such candidates will have to produce the proof of having passed the qualifying examination with fifty-five/fifty percent marks, as the case may be, on the date of their admission or within the time allowed by the respective universities.[12]

Exam pattern

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This law entrance exam is of two hours duration. The CLAT question paper consists of 120 multiple-choice questions. There are five sections in CLAT exam paper which are:

  • English including Comprehension
  • Current affairs including General Knowledge
  • Legal Reasoning
  • Logical Reasoning
  • Quantitative Techniques (Maths)

All the questions will be paragraph-based starting from CLAT 2020. One paragraph will be followed by 5-6 questions. The break up of marks is generally as follows :

Subjects Number of Questions Marks
English Language 22-26 questions 22 - 26
Current Affairs, including General Knowledge 28-32 questions 28 - 32
Legal Reasoning 28-32 questions 28 - 32
Logical Reasoning 22-26 questions 22 - 26
Quantitative Techniques 10-14 questions 10 - 14
Total 120 120

Marking Scheme: For every correct answer, aspirants are given one mark and for each wrong answer 0.25 marks are deducted from their total score.

List of National Law Universities

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  1. National Law School of India University, Bangalore
  2. NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
  3. The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
  4. National Law Institute University, Bhopal
  5. National Law University, Jodhpur
  6. Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar
  7. GNLU Silvassa, Silvassa is an off-centre campus of GNLU
  8. Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur
  9. Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow
  10. National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi
  11. Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala
  12. Chanakya National Law University, Patna
  13. National Law University Odisha, Cuttack
  14. Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Vishakhapatnam
  15. National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi
  16. National Law School and Judicial Academy, Guwahati
  17. Tamil Nadu National Law University, Trichy
  18. Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai
  19. Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur
  20. Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad
  21. Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla
  22. Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur
  23. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Law University, Sonipat
  24. National Law University Tripura, Agartala
  25. Dr. Rajendra Prasad National Law University, Prayagraj

Note: NLU Delhi has a separate exam known as AILET & NLU Meghalaya, Shillong has also its own test .

Method of allocation

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The CLAT form provides the students with a preference list.[citation needed] Each student fills the preference list, according to the colleges they desire.[citation needed] On the basis of these preferences and ranks obtained, students are allocated colleges. As the NLUs are established by the respective state governments, therefore most NLUs also have reservations for their domiciled candidates.[citation needed]

Conducting organisation

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The first CLAT Core Committee consisting of Vice-Chancellors of the seven participating NLUs at that time decided that the test should be conducted by rotation in the order of their establishment.[citation needed] Accordingly, the first CLAT was conducted in 2008 by the National Law School of India University.[6] Subsequently, CLAT-2009, CLAT-2010, CLAT-2011, CLAT-2012, CLAT-2013, CLAT-2014, CLAT-2015, CLAT-2016, CLAT-2017, CLAT-2018 CLAT-2019 and CLAT-2020 have been conducted[citation needed] by NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, National Law Institute University, The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, National Law University, Jodhpur, Hidayatullah National Law University, Gujarat National Law University, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Chanakya National Law University, National University of Advanced Legal Studies[13] and National Law University Odisha[14] respectively.[citation needed] However, from 2019, CLAT is conducted by Consortium of NLUs, a body consisting of Vice-chancellors of all the NLU's except NLU DELHI, which was formed in March, 2019.[15]

Controversies

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CLAT-2009, which was scheduled to be held on 17 May 2009 was rescheduled to 31 May 2009 due to leak of question papers.[16]

CLAT-2011 candidates were disappointed with the standard of exam, as up to 12 questions in the various sections had underlined answers due to the oversight of the organisers and students also found the paper lengthy in comparison to the time limit provided (i.e. 2 hours).[17]

CLAT-2012 was marred by a number of controversies, which includes allegations of setting questions out of syllabus and out of the pre-declared pattern.[18] The declared rank list also contained an error, due to which the first list was taken down and a fresh list was put up.[19] The declared question-answer keys contained several errors, which resulted in petitions being filed by the aggrieved students in different High Courts.[20]

CLAT-2014 was conducted by GNLU, Gandhinagar and was also heavily criticized for being poorly conducted[21] with results being withdrawn and declared again.[22] Even lawsuits had been filed for re-examination.[23] The uploaded OMRs were then allowed to be physically verified in the GNLU Campus after students demanded the same.

CLAT-2017 the English paper had several errors.[24]

CLAT-2018 students approached the Supreme Court since there were server problems during the examination. However, the Court refused to order a re-examination.[25]

In 2020, NLSIU announced that it would be withdrawing from CLAT, and conducting its own entrance test, the National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT).[26] However, the Supreme Court of India struck down the separate entrance test conducted by NLSIU and ordered it to re-join CLAT.[27]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Brief History". Consortium of NLUs. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  2. ^ "CLAT 2022". consortiumofnlus.ac.in. Archived from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Why are student suicides on the rise? Ask any teen applying for CLAT, JEE, NEET, you'll know". 22 September 2021. Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Why CLAT" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  5. ^ "NLS History". Archived from the original on 21 May 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  6. ^ a b "CLAT 2008 Information Brochue" (PDF). pp. 3–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 December 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  7. ^ "CLAT History". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 11 January 2008. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008.
  8. ^ "About CLAT". Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  9. ^ Shrivastava, Prachi (3 November 2014). "NLUs enter into new CLAT MoU, ensuring full participation of all 16 NLUs (except NLU Delhi)". LegallyIndia. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  10. ^ "Consortium of NLUs". consortiumofnlus.ac.in. Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Common Law Admission Test - Instructions". Common Law Admission Test Core Committee. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  12. ^ a b "Eligibility". www.clat.ac.in. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  13. ^ Shrivastava, Prachi (14 May 2018). "CLAT 2018 was 98.5% smooth, says Nuals Kochi, promises to investigate, but many of 59,300+ candidates faced problems, some filed police complaints". www.legallyindia.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  14. ^ "CLAT 2019 to be conducted today: Here is all you need to know". India Today. 25 May 2019. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Consortium of NLUs". consortiumofnlus.ac.in. Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Law admission test postponed after paper leak". DNA. 14 May 2009. Archived from the original on 16 July 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  17. ^ "Yesterday's CLAT aspirants in a tizzy over difficulty, strange underlines". Legally India. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  18. ^ Shrivastava, Prachi. "CLAT to be PILed as NLU-J shocks with 2012 paper mismatch with prescribed syllabus". Legally India. Archived from the original on 15 June 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  19. ^ Ganz, Kian. "Download new, reshuffled 2012 CLAT University Allotment; NUJS now tops NLIU in prefs again". 1 June 2012. Archived from the original on 3 June 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  20. ^ "UP High Court noitce to NLU Jodhpur on CLAT 2012 question paper 'anomalies'". 24 May 2012. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022 – via The Economic Times - The Times of India.
  21. ^ Ganz, Kian (6 June 2014). "CLAT results still wrong & mixed up claim students, despite GNLU's new 'reconciliated'(sic) results". Archived from the original on 18 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  22. ^ Times News Network (6 June 2014). "After the botch-up, CLAT results revised". Archived from the original on 9 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  23. ^ Legally India (9 June 2014). "Update: CLAT to respond to challenge by 18 June | CLAT taker files legal challenge, seeks fresh exam and halt to counselling". Archived from the original on 18 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  24. ^ Tyagi, Akshat (19 May 2017). "CLAT 2017: A Case of a Failed Question Paper". The Quint. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  25. ^ Jain, Mehal (11 June 2018). "CLAT 2018: Supreme Court Rules Out Retest". livelaw.in. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  26. ^ "NLSIU Bangalore will not accept CLAT, to conduct own test for 2020-21, apply now". Hindustan Times. 3 September 2020. Archived from the original on 6 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  27. ^ "Top Court Cancels Bengaluru National Law School's Separate Entrance Exam". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
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