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NLU Delhi’s AILET admissions competition grows to 1 vs 182, similar to CLAT’s top 3

NLU Delhi: Testing entrance
NLU Delhi: Testing entrance
NLU Delhi’s separate All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) saw almost double the competition compared to 2011 with every candidate fighting 182 others for one of the 72 seats at the law school this year.

However, around 80 candidates are expected to give up a secured seat at the law school once the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) results are declared two weeks from now.

The law school yesterday declared the results of the sixth edition of AILET that was held on 28 April 2013 and was taken by 12,820 LLB aspirants.

52 candidates cleared the general category cut-off. 11 students made it in the scheduled caste category, including two scholars of the Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA) initiative. Five candidates were selected from the scheduled tribes (ST) quota, and two candidates cracked the test under the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) quota.

Ritika Ajitsaria obtained the first rank, scoring 116 out of total 150 marks in the 90 minute test, while the lowest general category score was 100. Scheduled caste (SC) candidates scoring between 90 and 80 marks were selected.

Two IDIA scholars, Priyanka Hazarika with 82 marks and Ramesh Kumar with 80 marks, were ranked 30 and 32 respectively. However, Kumar’s final selection will be subject to him achieving a higher 10+2 board score than two other candidates with the same AILET rank.

The law school will also notify 10 foreign nationals for admission to its LLB program and will provide a copy of the 28 April question paper and answer key on its website on 20 May.

NLU Delhi has also released the first waiting list with 30 candidates scoring 99 and 98 marks. CLAT coaching website CLATGyan told Legally India that in AILET’s previous years all of the first waiting list and most of the second waiting list cleared up for admission. Usually “the top 130/140” ranking candidates have a good chance of making it through to the law school, because high-ranking AILET students opted a CLAT university, explained CLATGyan.

Cut-off marks at the test have decreased in the last two years. The top score at AILET 2012 was 113 marks and the general category list had closed at 99 marks, while in 2011 rank one scored 118 marks and the cut-off for the general category was 105 marks.

AILET was created in 2008 by NLU Delhi separately from the CLAT, which is the unified entrance exam to 14 national law universities and others. The reason behind it was the poor administration of CLAT and the motivation to select students for whom NLU Delhi was not a lower preference, NLU Delhi vice chancellor Ranbir Singh said in 2011. A public interest litigation by lawyer Varun Bhagat around 2006 had resulted in the creation of the CLAT after the Supreme Court directed national law schools to create a joint admissions test.

The sixth CLAT was held on Sunday with around 29,500 candidates appearing for it. Negative marking was introduced for the first time in the exam convened by HNLU Raipur this year. Candidates reported that the level of questions was easy but they struggled with finishing the paper on time. The results will be declared on 31 May.

Relative ease

The approximate competition between candidates to get into NLU Delhi is now roughly comparable to getting into India’s three most popular law schools - NLSIU Bangalore, Nalsar Hyderabad and NUJS Kolkata.

In last year’s CLAT, 266 students out of around 25,732 CLAT takers gained admission to NLSIU, Nalsar and NUJS. Presuming all of them accepted, this worked out to around 1 place at one of those law schools per 97 CLAT students.

If the top 140 AILET students, including waitlists, were to take up one of 72 places at NLU Delhi, the AILET’s competition would be around 1 place for every 90 candidates.

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