SC refuses to cancel CLAT 2018 exam

Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 13  

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected demands for cancellation of CLAT-2018, and ordered National University of Advance Legal Studies (NUALS), Kochi—which conducted CLAT-2018—to apply ‘normalisation’ formula to compensate 4690 candidates who were adversely affected by technical glitches and mismanagement.

A Vacation Bench headed by Justice UU Lalit ordered that the entire exercise has to be completed by June 15 and revised scores of 4690 candidates have to be published by on June 16.

The normalisation formula proceeds on the basis of answering efficiency or capacity of a candidate to answer questions in given time and then applies his rate of success as a parameter.

“According to us, the normalisation formula so suggested, in the circumstances, would be the best possible way to compensate and take care of the interest of those 4690 candidates. At the same time, it would also ensure that no prejudice is caused to rest of the candidates,” the Bench said.

The order came on petitions demanding cancellation of Combined Legal Aptitude Test (CLAT), 2018 on the ground that it was marred by large-scale technical glitches and mismanagement affecting thousands of candidates vying for admission to 19 national law universities.

More than 54,000 candidates had undertaken the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2018 conducted by National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), Kochi, on May 13 with the help of M/s Sify Technologies Ltd.

Based on revised scores, merit list will be rearranged and the revised position of candidates will be indicated by rank Nos.51A-51B as suggested by Grievance Redressal Committee, the top court said.

But the Bench made it clear that the first round of counselling, which began on June 10, will continue without any impediment and that no candidate who has already been allocated a seat in the first counselling will be affected.

 “If any candidate from the body of 4690 candidates is otherwise entitled, that is to say even without the benefit of revised score, to be allocated any seat, it goes without saying that such allocation will not in any way stand adversely affected,” the Bench said.

In the second round of counselling the rank/merit list so prepared in terms of these directions shall be the governing list and the seats in second and subsequent rounds of counselling will be allocated on the basis of the list so revised in pursuance of these directions, the court said.

The Bench, which also included Justice Deepak Gupta, said directed that if a candidate, as a result of revised rank list being operative in second and subsequent round of counselling, wanted to secure admission in any other college of his or her choice going by his or her revised ranking, he/she should be allowed to do so without incurring any disadvantage.

“In such cases, the fees if deposited in the first college shall be given due credit against the admission in the second college which the candidate may opt for as a result of revised ranking,” it clarified.

Rejecting demands for cancellation of CLAT-2018, the Bench said: “Any outright cancellation would visit tremendous inconvenience and hardship upon rest of the candidates. If the interest of those candidates who suffered loss of time could otherwise be compensated, there is no reason that the entire admission test be cancelled or annulled”.

The top court went for ‘normalisation formula’ as all the details regarding log in and log out times were available in respect of each of the aggrieved candidates and, therefore, it was possible to arrive at revised score applying such normalization formula in respect of said 4,690 candidates.