Bar Council of India panel to examine if CLAT can be held in regional languages

New Delhi, July 4

The Bar Council of India (BCI), which regulates legal education in the country, has set up a seven-member committee to examine if Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) can be conducted in regional languages too.

Currently, the CLAT is held in English for admission to 22 of the 23 national law universities. National Law University, Delhi, holds a separate admission test.

“The council being the regulator of legal education and legal profession, prima facie is of the view that no deserving candidate should be deprived from giving the CLAT on account of his/her inability to be proficient in English,” BCI Secretary Srimanto Sen said in a letter dated June 30 to petitioners who had moved the Delhi High Court, demanding the CLAT be held in regional languages. The HC had asked the BCI to consider the demand. “…the knowledge or lack of English language does not determine ones intelligence, ability, acumen, dedication, IQ etc., therefore, prima-facie the exam should be conducted in vernacular languages too,” said the BCI. —TNS