The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2016 convenor RGNUL Patiala has been called upon by the Supreme Court to provide answers in Prof Shamnad Basheer’s petition challenging the conduct of the CLAT.
Former NUJS Kolkata professor and founder of NGO Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA) Basheer had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the CLAT for its poor and opaque conduct, and had prayed for a permanent CLAT conducting body to replace the present system of the national law universities (NLUs) convening the exam each year by rotation.
The Supreme Court’s bench of justices TS Thakur and Gopal Gowda today admitted the PIL for further hearing.
Supreme Court advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Liz Mathew had briefed senior advocate KK Venugopal to appear pro bono for Basheer.
Sankaranarayanan told Legally India that Venugopal argued before the bench that there were problems with the way the CLAT was running itself, there were errors in the way it was managed and it was lacking in overall competence. Additionally, he argued that the fees for registering for the exam were comparatively on the higher side.
Sankaranarayanan said that keeping these arguments in mind and the fact that the date to hold CLAT 2016 - May 2016 - was near, to avoid protracting the litigation the bench decided against issuing notice to all 17 NLUs which are part of the CLAT.
Justices Thakur and Gowda issued notice in the PIL to only RGNUL, the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the union of India.
The next date of hearing in the case, to be computer generated, will likely lie in October, said Sanakaranarayanan.
The PIL, which was first set to come up for miscellaneous hearing on Monday, was heard today as Chief Justice of India (CJI) HL Dattu had recused himself from hearing the case since he is the chancellor of NLSIU Bangalore and NUJS Kolkata and has passed administrative orders related to the CLAT.
Comments
What was the articles about the lawyer who mowed down non-lawyers in Bombay all about? Double standards clearly. NALSAR kids above reproach?
1. We're talking about a young kid, with his entire life and career in front of him. Wh
2. What he allegedly did happened off campus in his own time, and has very little to do with Nalsar or law or law school or otherwise.
3. You might like to read our article about the lawyer who mowed down non-lawyers in Mumbai. My opinion is that the story has been massala-fied by the mainstream papers. http://www.legallyindia.com/Bar-Bench-Litigation/janhavi-gadkar-slow-motion-media-car-crash
4. It might be fun for others to gawp and profess to superiority when we cover the story, but in the grand scheme of things, it is gossip.
5. Any allegations of editorial bias towards institutions (which we've received about literally almost every law school in 6 years) is misplaced. Even if we reported it, one alleged incident would have very little to do with the institution presumably, unless someone can draw a red line between some college policy and what allegedly happened.
Trust that clarifies our position on the matter.
Best regards,
Kian
1. She is not a law student but a qualified lawyer with a career, etc.
2. With the amount of media coverage and public (as well as legal community) interest in the case, there was no point in ignoring it, but we may as well report it fairly so there's a balanced account of the allegations, proceedings, etc out there.
PS: I hope you don't censor this for mentioning the name. He isn't a minor, and you already put Janhavi's name in - thus opening the door.
Also, I hope someone files a PIL seeking that NLU Delhi and Mumbai be made to to fall in line and be part of CLAT.
... and also to faculty - not the senior entrenched ones - but the new blood (whether from a NLU background or not) and find out how the student community is at different places.
Most of what you say is true. However, the real litmus test for NLU-D will be when RS moves on. As VC centric these institutions are, a negative influence from that office could counter most of the positives presently attributed to NLU-D.
Most of the younger faculty is there because of the (a) location; but (b) also for the freedom granted by RS. Another person coming in, a la Venkata Rao, could make them flee within years. He did that at NLS!
Can see them break into top-6/7 in the long run. Have judged teams at moots, and had the pleasure of being there a few times. The student body seemed distinctly better than some institutions currently just above them. However, moving further up the ladder will need very strong leadership - stable one please - as well. Though I definitely see NLU-D break into top-3/4/5 whenever it participates in a ranking (though RS will tactically keep them out of those - savvy operator he is).
As it is, we're forced to focus on one or two big stories at most and when a new one comes along the older, sometimes smaller ones, unfortunately slip into the background.
Take the BCI Mishra / ITES story for instance. Just as we were getting into it, that whole clataclysm thing happened, soaking up our time. How to choose between both?
Anyway, keep letting us know what's going on and we'll do our best to cover the market as widely as possible.