CLAT in English should not be a hurdle for students, says Delhi Municipal Council
The Delhi High Court stated that the English language used for the Common Law Admission Test should not be an obstacle for aspiring students who have been taught in regional languages.
The court, consisting of Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, stated that it could not venture into the realm of policy making by instructing the Consortium of the National Law Universities to conduct the examination in regional languages.
“It is necessary to stress that the languages used for the entrance examination to national law universities cannot impede students who are receiving instruction in other languages,” stated the court.
The bench, however, requested a “roadmap” from the body to demonstrate it was “alive” to the issue. A PIL was heard regarding the conduct of the Common Law Admission Test 2024 in regional languages in addition to English. The bench concurred with the petitioner’s position that conducting the examination in a regional language could be essential for “larger inclusion,” and stated that it would be suitable to address the issue with the goal of preventing it from being an obstacle.
The court expressed the hope that policymakers were aware of the issue and that other regional languages would be included in the national-level entrance examination.
“It is partly a policy issue, something you have to develop personally, but the only necessity is that you must recognize the change occurring with the introduction of vernacular language, especially Hindi.” It serves as the national language of this country, and there are now translations of Supreme Court judgments, the court stated.
Common Law Admission Test
The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) serves as a centralized national-level entrance examination for admissions to 25 of the 27 National Law Universities (NLU), excluding NLU Delhi and NLU Meghalaya. Initially launched in 2008, CLAT serves as a centralized entrance exam for those seeking admission to India’s National Law Schools/Universities.
NLU Delhi and NLU Meghalaya conduct their own entrance examinations: the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) and the NLU Meg Undergraduate Admission Test (MEG UAT), respectively. It is expected that AILET and MEG UAT will be combined with CLAT in the next few years. Some private law schools in India that are self-financed also utilize these scores for admissions to their law programs.
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