'It Is Violation of Rules' : NLU Consortium Requests NLSIU To Reconsider It's Decision To Hold Separate Admission Test

In an emergency meeting of the Governing Body held on Friday, under the Chairmanship of Prof. V. Vijaykumar, Vice-Chancellor, NLIU, Bhopal, it has been resolved that the decision of NLSIU to hold a separate entrance exam is in violation of Rule 15.3.3. of Consortium Bye-laws.

It is clarified that all members of the NLU Consortium are "duty-bound" to admit students only through CLAT.

Thus, NLSIU represented by its Vice-Chancellor during the meeting, has been requested to reconsider its decision of holding its own independent test for this year's admission to BA.LL.B and LL.M.

A press note issued by the Governing Body states:

"In case NLSIU sticks to its decision, NLSIU cannot remain associated with the CLAT-2020 in any manner and all financial and administrative decisions will have to be taken by Prof. Balraj Chauhan, CLAT-2020 Convener and the Secretariat of Consortium may be shifted out of NLSIU."

The Permanent Secretariat of the Consortium was established at NLSIU, Bangalore in October 2018.

It was on September 3 that the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, announced its decision to hold a separate test for admission to five year B.A LL.B(Hons) course for the academic year 2020-21. The new test called the 'National Law Aptitude Test' (NLAT) is proposed to be held online on September 12.

In the aftermath of this decision, the Executive Council of the Consortium convened an emergency meeting last night and expressed its "surprise and anguish".

Terming the NLSIU move a "unilateral decision", the Council noted with dismay that the NLSIU was conducting its own admission test while continuing in the consortium, which is not permissible under the Bye-laws of the Consortium.

It further opined that the new admission test of NLSIU will put thousands of students during the extraordinary Covid-19 health emergency to a lot of inconvenience who will now have to appear in two tests instead of one.

Earlier today, 5 CLAT aspirants approached the Jharkhand HC challenging the University's decision to hold a separate exam that too after filling of CLAT forms.