You are not special: Delhi HC to DU on PIL against CLAT-based admission to law courses

The Delhi High Court on Thursday told the Delhi University (DU) that when Common University Entrance Test (CUET) score is being considered to grant admissions by other Central Universities, it is not 'special' to make admissions to its newly introduced five-year integrated law courses based entirely on Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2023 result.

The PIL filed by law student Prince Singh from the DU's Law Faculty demands the implementation of CUET scores for admission.The University Grants Commission (UGC) has mandated CUET for central universities' undergraduate admissions, while DU has chosen to use CLAT scores for its law courses.

During the hearing on Thursday, a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula orally said: “Under the National Education Policy, once the decision is taken by the Government of India, Ministry of Education that admissions are to be done in Central Universities only on the basis of CUET, then you are not special.”

The court granted time to DU to file the counter affidavit in the matter, and also asked the Union of India to file its reply or seek appropriate instructions in the matter.

The bench made it clear that if no counter affidavit is filed by the next date of hearing, the matter will be heard finally on interim relief.

The DU's counsel submitted that till the next date of hearing, the university will not release any advertisement inviting applications for admissions in the five-year law courses

The matter has now been listed for hearing next on August 25.

The PIL argues that this creates a separate category of students eligible for admission.

Additionally, CUET's inclusivity in terms of languages is highlighted, as opposed to CLAT's English-only format.

The plea states that the CLAT exam has been conducted in English medium since its inception. However, the CUET (UG) exam is being conducted in 13 languages -- English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

"It is worth noting here that the CUET is more inclusive, more diverse and in tune with the mandate of the National Educational Policy. It is not out of the place to mention here that the Respondent No. 1 uses two languages, i.e., English and Hindi in its teachings and semester exams," the plea says.

The introduction of these law courses at DU had been in demand for long, with the Bar Council of India (BCI) granting approval for 60 seats each in the BA.LL.B. (Hons) and BBA.LL.B. (Hons.) programmes.The university has said that sessions for both courses are scheduled at the Faculty of Law, Kanad Bhawan, in the North Campus.