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NLU Delhi backtracks from home proctored AILET, to go ‘risky’ physical CLAT route • SC declines to intervene in CLAT

Despite earlier heavy criticism of an offline approach, NLU Delhi seems to have now changed its mind about those risks

NLU Delhi goes for centre based remote proctored test
NLU Delhi goes for centre based remote proctored test

After initially criticising the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) national law universities' approach of holding centre-based law school admissions tests as everything from not “patriotic” and carrying the “risk” of “mass infection” of candidates and their families, NLU Delhi has done an about turn and announced that it too would hold a centre-based physical test.

This follows more than a month of preparations for a home-proctored test, as conducted by the LSAT-India last week and by the Symbiosis group of law schools since the weekend, where reports of potential cheating surfaced, though a Symbiosis official vowed to identify any such instances.

As we had also reported, the AILET also now stands postponed.

According to an announcement on NLU Delhi’s website (see PDF below):

In view of the current situation of the pandemic Covid-19, as well as multiple requests received from the candidates, the AILET 2020 scheduled on August 18, 2020 has been postponed. The new date of the entrance Test will be notified shortly. At least 10 days’ prior notice will be given for the new date.

The NLU Delhi & NTA will come up with a fresh list of test centres across the country for the conduct of AILET 2020 as CENTRE BASED REMOTE PROCTORED TEST. The candidates will be provided with a choice of opting the test centre as per their convenience. The notification to this effect will be issued separately.

Further, the last date for submission of online application forms has also been extended upto August 10, 2020.

If both CLAT and AILET are now essentially going for an online test that will be held at physical test centres, and with the convenors for both being national law schools, AILET’s decision - especially in the midst of a deadly pandemic - does raise the question of why both should not be combined this year, rather than risking 50,000 or more CLAT takers and most likely a smaller subset of around 20,000 of those who will take the AILET, all travelling to test centres, twice in the latter case.

Then again, there is no absolute guarantee that the CLAT will happen as scheduled on 22 August either, with coronavirus infections continuing to climb at a rapid pace.

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has declined to intervene in a Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) exam held online in test centres, according to multiple reports.

[documentcloud NLU Delhi postponed, to go offline

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