In the latest judgment, the Supreme Court heard the petitioners who were challenging the National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT), the separate admission test held by the National law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore.
The bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah heard the said matter on Wednesday. Wherein the senior Advocate Nidhesh Gupta appearing from the side of Professor R Venkat Rao and the other parent of NLSIU aspirant started his submissions by giving the brief of bye-laws of the NLU Consortium. It was submitted that the bye-laws prohibit a member from holding a separate test, while remaining as a member.
His major contention was that so long as a person is a member of the Consortium, he is bound by the Memorandum of Association of Consortium. He further submitted that there were reports of widespread cheating and manipulation during the NLAT, and the University itself has said they are filing cyber complaints. They reduced the examination to a complete farce. It was not a test of merit but a test of competence in manipulation.
Since a lot of candidates faced technical difficulties die to their inability to meet the technical specifications regarding bandwidth, web camera etc, the University held a re-test, but with the same specifications. Over 4600 candidates raised technical queries, which were given a re-test option on September 14. But the entire re-test paper got leaked during the examination. But while admitting such leak, the University claimed that the leak does not affect the integrity of the exam.
The NLSIU further cited the repeated postponement of CLAT on account of COVID-19 as a reason for the reason behind the separate test. It said that the University is under a compulsion to complete the admission process by September end, as it follows a trimester system distinct from other National Law Universities. The hearing of the case is underway.
