Common Law Admission Test (CLAT)

Logo of Common Law Admission Test

Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a centralised test for admission to prominent National Law Universities in India. The test is taken after the 12th grade for admission to graduation (also known as Bachelors) courses in Law. This exam was conducted for the first time on 11 May 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A total number of 1037 seats <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> from seven law schools were offered to be filled by the test. The results of the first CLAT were announced on May 19, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The two-hour admission test consists of objective type covering questions on English, general knowledge, basic mathematics, besides legal and logical reasoning.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The second CLAT, for the academic year 2009-10 is scheduled for 17 May 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This year eleven law schools are participating in CLAT.The paper which was supposed to be held on 17 May 2009 has been resheduled and has taken place on 31 May 2009 due to paper tampering.For further information www.clat.ac.in ; CLAT 2010 was administered on May 9.

History

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Before the introduction of the CLAT, the autonomous law schools in India conducted their own entrance examinations, requiring the candidate to prepare and appear separately for each examination. The time 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 All India Pre Medical Test. This caused students to miss tests and experience much stress.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

There are thirteen National law schools in India, the first of which was the National Law School of India University, which admitted its first batch of students in 1987. Out of the thirteen, the National Law School, Delhi and the National Law School, Orissa conduct their own separate entrance tests. The CLAT admits the students on the basis of the national entrance test conducted by it generally in the month of May each year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 the issue was raised by different persons to conduct a common entrance exam to reduce the burden of the students to give multiple test, but given the autonomous status of each law school, there was no nodal agency to co-ordinate an action to this regard.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The matter drew national attention when a Public Interest Litigation was filed by one Varun Bhagat against the Union of India and various National Law Schools in the Supreme Court of India in 2006. The Chief Justice of India directed the Union of India to consult with the National Law Schools to formulate a common test. The move was strongly supported by the Bar Council of India.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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 organized a meeting of the Vice-Chancellors of seven National Law Schools 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 law schools on 23 November 2007 to conduct a common admission test. The Common Law Admission Test will be conducted each year by each of the law colleges and the responsibility of conducting the exam will be rotated and given on the basis of seniority. Nonetheless, the matter has not been resolved completely as there are other national law schools which are not taking part in CLAT.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

CLAT 2008

The first entrance examination through CLAT took place to admit students for the academic year 2008-09. The examination was held on 11 May 2008.

The following law schools admitted the students on the basis of the scores obtained by the candidates in CLAT:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

CLAT 2009

The second entrance examination through CLAT for admitting students for the academic year 2009-10 is scheduled for 31 May 2009. From seven last year, the list of participating law schools for this year has increased to eleven.

The following law schools admitted the students on the basis of the scores obtained by the candidates in CLAT:

CLAT 2010

As of December 2009 it was announced that the CLAT 2010 examination is scheduled on May 9, 2010.<ref>http://www.clat.ac.in/</ref>. The paper went of smoothly unlike the preceding year . The paper was very hard in the GK and legal aptitude sections and easy in maths

Non-Participating Schools

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Despite the Supreme Court in the Public Interest Litigation and the efforts of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, not all law schools in the country could come to an agreement to be participants to CLAT. While the number of participating institutions has increased from seven to eleven from 2008 to 2009, there are still a number of law schools which choose to continue with their existing admission test system by conducting their own entrance examinations. Some of the main ones are;

National Law University, Delhi,(New Delhi)
National Law University, Orissa,(Cuttack)
Army Institute of Law, (Mohali)
Baroda School of Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat
Symbiosis Law School, (Pune)
ILS Law College, (Pune)
Amity Law School, (Delhi)
Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, (Chennai)
Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, (Kharagpur
KIIT Law School, (Bhubaneswar)
Faculty of Law, Delhi University, (Delhi)
Government Law College, (Mumbai)
School of Law, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, (Dehradun)
Faculty of Law, Banaras Hindu University, (Varanasi)

Method of Allocation

The CLAT form provides the students with a preference list.Each student fills the preference list,according to the colleges he/she desires.On the basis of these preferences and ranks obtained,students are allocated colleges.

Formal Structure of CLAT

CLAT is administered by the eleven participating law schools each year turn by turn, on the basis of seniority. For the first year (2008) the National Law School, (Bangalore) was in charge of conducting CLAT. For the year 2009, the responsibility to conduct CLAT is upon NALSAR University of Law, (Hyderabad). As a formal structure, CLAT is administered through two Committees which have been constituted by the participating law schools. These is a 'Core Committee', which consists of the Vice-Chancellors/Directors of the participating law schools and an 'Implementation Committee' which constitute of the Registrars of the participating law schools. The current members of the two committees (ex-officio) are as under;

Core Committee <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Prof. Veer Singh, Vice-Chancellor, NALSAR University of Law, (Hyderabad),Convenor
Prof. A. Jayagovind, Vice-Chancellor, National Law School, (Bangalore)
Dr. S.S. Singh, Director, National Law Institute University, (Bhopal)
Prof. M. P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor, The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, (Kolkata)
Justice N.N. Mathur, Vice-Chancellor, National Law University, (Jodhpur)
Prof. M. K. Srivastava, Vice-Chancellor, Hidayatullah National Law University, (Raipur)
Mr. Bimal N. Patel, Director, Gujarat National Law University, (Gandhinagar)
Prof. Balraj Singh Chauhan, Director, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow
Prof. Gurjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala
Prof. A. Lakshminath, Vice-Chancellor, Chanakya National Law University, Patna
Dr. N.K. Jayakumar, Vice-Chancellor, National University of Advanced Legal Studies, (Kochi)

Implementation Committee <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Prof. K.V.S. Sarma, Registrar, NALSAR University of Law, (Hyderabad), Convenor
Prof. V. Vijayakumar, Professor of Law, National Law School, (Bangalore)
Mr. C.M. Garg, Registrar, National Law Institute University, (Bhopal)
Mr. Niharendu Konar, Registar, The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, (Kolkata)
Mr. Ratan Lahoti, Registrar, National Law University, (Jodhpur)
Mr. M.K. Thakre, Registrar, Hidayatullah National Law University, (Raipur)
Mr. Rishikesh Dave, Registrar, Gujarat National Law University, (Gandhinagar)
Mrs. Anita Mishra, Registrar, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow
Prof. G.I.S. Sandhu, Registrar, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala
Dr. S.P. Singh, Registrar, Chanakya National Law University, Patna
Mr. V.Narayana Swamy, Registrar, National University of Advanced Legal Studies, (Kochi)
Prof. Vijender Kumar, Professor of Law, NALSAR University of Law, (Hyderabad)

References

External links