The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine alleged discrepancies and flaws in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), a pre-requisite for admissions in 16 National Law Universities (NLUs), and sought responses from the Centre and Bar Council of India to a PIL on it.
It has been alleged in the PIL that the CLAT exam suffers from "seriously defective question papers and answer keys, discrepancies in terms of allocation of seats, release of merit lists, mal-administration, inefficient management and serious policy inconsistencies."
"We have no problem if things can be improved. You should make recommendations," a Bench of Justices TS Thakur and V Gopala Gowda said, adding, "there can never be a perfectly accurate system of examinations." The Bench issued <g data-gr-id="16">notice</g> to the Centre, the Bar Council of India and Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala, which would be conducting the CLA Test next year and sought their responses within six weeks.
The petition said the actions of the Centre, BCI, and various NLUs in the country "constitute serious violation of the sacrosanct rights guaranteed under Constitution of India to various prospective law students, including the right to guard against arbitrary actions of the state (under Article 14) and the right to education and other connected rights within the ambit of Article 21 of the Constitution." CLAT is held every year for the purpose of admissions to Graduate and PG programmes in <g data-gr-id="14">discipline</g> of law offered at the NLUs in India.
Stays Raj HC order banning poppy husk sale
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Rajasthan High Court's order banning <g data-gr-id="38">sale</g> of poppy husk and opium from shops and outlets in the state. A Bench headed by CJ HL Dattu passed the interim order while hearing a petition challenging the decision of the Jaipur Bench of the HC restraining the state functionaries of Rajasthan and the licensees from selling poppy straw (Lanced Poppy Heads).