Who will conduct the CLAT PG exam ?

Authentic Feedback from previous LawMint users :

I got AIR 21 in CLAT PG. Thank you so much. Your mocks helped me a lot in my preparation 🙂 - Ayushi Jain

I have subscribed to your CLAT PG program and got AIR 36 in this year CLAT PG. I have also secured AIR 54 in AILET PG exam. I would like to thank you. Your mock paper really helps a lot - Shrashank Tripathi

I would like to thank you for the CLAT PG LLM COURSE. Practising mock tests there helped me in getting confidence and hence I was able to get AIR 45 in CLAT PG LLM - Akshay Awasthi

A year back, I relied on the IIT Kharagpur RGSOIPL mock test series by LawMint to prepare for my RGSOIPL entrance test. Few months back, I relied on your UGC NET Law series to prepare for UGC NET. I was the topper of the RGSOIPL entrance, and have cracked JRF in UGC NET. All thanks to LawMint - Anshuman Sahoo

"I got AIR 18 in CLAT PG and General Category rank 28 in AILET PG. I want to thank you for helping me practice well in controlled conditions from any place. It gave me a lot of confidence and I took the tests while travelling too. I also made it to IIT Kharagpur." - Vinodharani

"Lawmint has been of great help to me in securing AIR 25 in AILET PG and AIR 29 in CLAT PG examinations. The subjective and objective approach of the test series kept me up to date with the latest exam pattern." - Bhawna Nanda

"I, Nimmy Saira Zachariah joined you clat test series. I cleared AILET PG with 30th rank. Your test series were of immense help as it gave me clear idea of where my preparations stand thank you once again law mint." - Nimmy S Z

"Hey guys. Where do I start? If I thought that getting AIR 59 in Clat PG was it, then how wrong I was. With Lawmint now I have cracked UGC NET as well." - Joyanta Chakraborty

---

For several years now, the CLAT has been conducted by one of the participating National Law Universities on a rotational basis. The CLAT 2019 is to be conducted by the NLUO Cuttack.

The official press release notification on the National Law University Odisha website, dated 4th October 2018 says “We are delighted to inform you all that the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT – 2019) will be conducted by National Law University Odisha on Sunday, May 12, 2019 at 3.00 P.M”

The issue with this approach is that with over twenty NLUs, each NLU will get an opportunity to conduct the CLAT exam once every twenty years. The experience from the previous year’s exam is often not carried over to the next year – the opportunity to learn from history is lost.

The Report of the Committee constituted to look into the matter of improper conduct of CLAT-2018 also highlights this issue “It is apparent that each yearly instance of tender for selection of service provider for CLAT is a fresh activity without any incremental learning from the experience obtained during the previous instance. This is evident from the non-involvement of the any of the members of the CLAT-2017 tender process in the committee for CLAT-2018”

The report further speaks about the unavailability of the historical trend of candidates count across cities with tender committee of CLAT-2018. “The historical trend of candidates can be easily generated from past data and should have been made available for better planning. After comparing the tender document of CLAT-2017 and CLAT-2018 it was noted that under the eligibility criteria, the amount of average turnover of the company and from exam related activity was decreased in the CLAT-2018 tender as compared to CLAT-2017. Tender document is silent regarding the hardware specification for the computers to be used during examination even though a separate document on the same has been submitted to the committee.”

A new NLU and a new Vendor each time does augur well for an efficient exam. This is evident from the major and minor glitches in the CLAT exams over the years.

Timeline of the CLAT over the years

• CLAT-2009 conducted by NALSAR was rescheduled due to a suspected question paper leak and tampering of test material.
• CLAT-2011 organized by NUJS Kolkata, saw several questions in the various sections had underlined answers. The quality and pattern of the questions was also criticized.
• CLAT-2012 conducted by NLU Jodhpur supposedly had questions from out of syllabus and out of the pre-declared pattern. The results rank list and the answer keys also had issues, which had to be corrected with fresh lists. Several petitions were filed in this regard in various High Courts.
• CLAT-2013 was conducted by the HNLU Raipur. While the exam seemed to have gone well, the results were stayed due to a writ petition because errors in the allotment of seats. Candidates with a higher rank who had opted for NUALS Kochi were instead allotted seats in CNLU Patna.
• CLAT-2014 which was organized by GNLU Gandhinagar again saw several petitions filed due to errors in declaration of results and issues with the OMR process – leading to a manual review of over 30000 answer sheets and re-declaration of results.
• CLAT-2015 was conducted by RMLNLU Lucknow in an online mode. Almost all the issues from the previous exams were played out again – mistakes in the question paper, errors in the answer keys, out of syllabus questions, errors in allocation of seats.
• CLAT-2016 was a definite improvement over the previous year; but this edition organized by the RGNLU Patiala did have technical issues with the application process, typo errors and a postponement of the results, possibly due to allocation related issues.
• CLAT-2017 was organized by CNLU Patna. The English section had several errors. Four questions were scrapped from the exam. Issues with the testing system, question out of syllabus and other issues were compounded by the fact that there was a very short window provided to the candidates for filing objections.
• CLAT-2018 conducted by the NUALS Kochi was an unmitigated disaster almost across the country. The new service provider SIFY allegedly failed to ensure adequate infrastructure for the exam – leading to discrepancies in the time allocation, testing process, IT issues, Bio-metric verification and several other essentials. Several petitions were filed across the country; however the Supreme Court refused to order a re-exam. A ‘formula’ was devised to account for the documented issues and revise the final rank list.

CLAT 2010 seems to be an oasis in the desert. Probably the only occasion without any glaring issues.

Considering that the CLAT is the gateway to the premier Law Schools in India, students often spend a year or more in preparation. The glitches that happen every year are an insult and a grave injustice to the test takers.

A permanent CLAT secretariat at NLSIU Bangalore

As per the CLAT 2019 initial press release by NLUO, “The Meeting of CLAT Core Committee Consortium at NUALS. Kochi on October 3 2018, further resolved to have a permanent CLAT secretariat at NLSIU Bangalore. The CLAT will now be conducted by the newly formed Executive Committee of the Consortium that would have, NLSIU, Bangalore, NALSAR, Hyderabad and NLIU, Bhopal as its ex-officio members, CLAT Convenor of the year, and the CLAT Convenor of the following year and two co-opted Vice-Chancellors of NLUs nominated by the CLAT Convener who have past experience of conducting CLAT.”

This approach seems to be aimed at addressing the information gap seen in the current process; since the NLU convenor of the current CLAT will be aligned with the previous and subsequent CLAT convenor NLUs and the historical experience can be effectively used.

The NTA (National Testing Agency) and the BCI (Bar Council of India)

Meanwhile, in connection with the CLAT 2018 related petitions in the Supreme Court, the NTA submitted an affidavit pitching to take over the conduct of the CLAT from the 2019-20 academic sessions onward.

NTA’s submission states “It is most respectfully submitted that NTA is willing to take up the responsibility for conducting the CLAT examination from Academic session 2019-2020 onwards, if desired by this Hon’ble Court. This position was brought to the notice of this Hon’ble Court on 03.10.2018, when it was observed that let the NTA incorporate its willingness to conduct CLAT”

Given that the NTA was specifically set up to centralize and standardize the conduct of various entrance exams, such as the NEET, CMAT, GPAT and the UGC NET; this specialized testing agency seems to be the logical choice for the future of the CLAT and the CLAT PG examinations.

The Supreme Court also seems to have shown an inclination towards NTA conducting the CLAT exam.

Meanwhile, the BCI has also staked a claim to conduct the CLAT on the basis of it’s mandate to regulate Legal education in India and also it’s experience in conducting the All India Bar Exam since 2011. While the AIBE had its share of teething troubles, the exam is fairly stable now and there have not been any major issues with the Bar Exam.

However, the AIBE is an Open Book ‘Pass-fail’ exam with a minimum passing mark of 40%.  In the AIBE, students are not competing against each other for a limited number of seats. They are just trying to score enough marks to clear the exam, which is a pre-requisite for practicing as an Advocate. So, comparing the CLAT with the AIBE would not be fair.

Meanwhile, the CLAT PG 2019 and CLAT UG 2019 announcement in January 2019 is eagerly awaited by all the aspirants; with a hope and a prayer that the exam should be a smooth affair; irrespective of who conducts it.

Update : The CLAT exam (CLAT PG and CLAT UG is now conducted by the CLAT Consortium.

Authentic Feedback from previous LawMint users :

I got AIR 21 in CLAT PG. Thank you so much. Your mocks helped me a lot in my preparation 🙂 - Ayushi Jain

I have subscribed to your CLAT PG program and got AIR 36 in this year CLAT PG. I have also secured AIR 54 in AILET PG exam. I would like to thank you. Your mock paper really helps a lot - Shrashank Tripathi

I would like to thank you for the CLAT PG LLM COURSE. Practising mock tests there helped me in getting confidence and hence I was able to get AIR 45 in CLAT PG LLM - Akshay Awasthi

A year back, I relied on the IIT Kharagpur RGSOIPL mock test series by LawMint to prepare for my RGSOIPL entrance test. Few months back, I relied on your UGC NET Law series to prepare for UGC NET. I was the topper of the RGSOIPL entrance, and have cracked JRF in UGC NET. All thanks to LawMint - Anshuman Sahoo

"I got AIR 18 in CLAT PG and General Category rank 28 in AILET PG. I want to thank you for helping me practice well in controlled conditions from any place. It gave me a lot of confidence and I took the tests while travelling too. I also made it to IIT Kharagpur." - Vinodharani

"Lawmint has been of great help to me in securing AIR 25 in AILET PG and AIR 29 in CLAT PG examinations. The subjective and objective approach of the test series kept me up to date with the latest exam pattern." - Bhawna Nanda

"I, Nimmy Saira Zachariah joined you clat test series. I cleared AILET PG with 30th rank. Your test series were of immense help as it gave me clear idea of where my preparations stand thank you once again law mint." - Nimmy S Z

"Hey guys. Where do I start? If I thought that getting AIR 59 in Clat PG was it, then how wrong I was. With Lawmint now I have cracked UGC NET as well." - Joyanta Chakraborty

---