CLAT may not select students with right ethos, says CJI DY Chandrachud

The CJI was speaking after inaugurating the first academic session of the India International University of Legal Education and Research (IIULER) in Goa, an initiative of the Bar Council of India Trust-PEARL FIRST (BCIT-PF).

He said that, “The varsity should be a centre for “cutting- edge research,” adding that, IIULER should have a system which makes its students’ body more inclusive. 

Entrance tests like the CLAT do not necessarily allow entry to all the deserving candidates, he added. 

“One of the problems that the National Law Universities have faced is perhaps the model which we use to select students does not always promote value-based education because we have a common law entrance examination and we test the students’ ability to crack the CLAT,” the CJI said. 

“Cracking the CLAT does not necessarily result in students who have the right ethos to perceive a career in law….I appeal to the vice chancellor and faculty to place importance on value-based legal education for the students from diverse background,” he said.

Quality education requires resources, but it should not be so designed as to shut out students who can not pay for it, he added. He also urged the first-batch students to be always inquisitive. 

The Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) will be issuing CLAT admit card on 6 December on the official website consortiumofnlus.ac.in. Apart from this, it will also permit candidates to fill their admission preferences to National Law Universities (NLUs) on the same date. CLAT 2023 is scheduled to be held on 18 December.

The CLAT is a national-level entrance examination for admissions to undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) law programmes offered by 22 National Law Universities in India. Several affiliate universities and organisations also use the CLAT exam for admissions and recruitment respectively.

All admissions to the 5-year integrated B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) and LL.M. programmes that commence in the Academic Year 2023-2024 at the 22 participating NLUs shall be through the CLAT 2023 to be held this December.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the CJI had said that every form of “elite understanding” of the democratic process that educated people are better decision-makers must be rejected.

“We must reject every form of elite understanding of the democratic process which we keep hearing constantly that only the educated are better decision-makers,” the CJI said. He said the elite perception that only the educated or a few individuals should have the right to vote shows contempt and distrust towards democracy. He was delivering the 8th Dr L M Singhvi Memorial Lecture on the theme “Universal Adult Franchise: Translating India’s Political Transformation into a Social Transformation.” “Our Constitution was a feminist document, as well as an egalitarian socially transformative document. It was a break from the colonial and pre-colonial legacy, the boldest move adopted by the Constitution that was truly a product of Indian imagination,” he had said.

(With inputs from agencies)