Delhi University 5-year law courses: UGC does U-turn; says CLAT scores can be considered for admissions

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has filed an affidavit before the Delhi High Court supporting the decision of Delhi University (DU) to rely on this year's Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) scores instead of Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores for admissions to the newly introduced five-year integrated law courses. .Notably, the position taken by the UGC is opposite to its earlier submission before the Court that CUET is mandatory for admission to undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses in all central universities. The submission was recorded by the Court in its order as well. .The matter came up before a Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula on Tuesday when the Court noted that a letter dated March 10, 2023, issued by the Joint Secretary, UGC states that CUET is mandatory for UG courses in central universities. The Bench directed the Chairman of the UGC to file an affidavit categorically stating whether CUET is mandatory for UG five-year law courses or not. It ordered the DU to file an affidavit stating whether CLAT will be considered for admissions to the the five-year law course only this year or whether the same pattern will also be followed in subsequent years as well. "It is further clarified that, even though, the current approval is for one year only, the University shall make its stand very clear on the mode of examination i.e. CUET or CLAT for admission in the Five-Year Law Degree Course for the next Academic Year in case such an approval is granted," the Court ordered. The Bench has also asked the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma to assist the Court in the matter. The matter will now be heard on September 18. .During the last hearing, Central government had told the Court that CUET is not mandatory for such admissions. It added that DU has autonomy over the management of its day-to-day affairs and that admissions to its various professional courses and programmes are governed by its own statute, rules and regulations..As per the UGC's new affidavit, the five-year integrated law course is a “professional degree programme, and different yardsticks in terms of assessment/evaluation may be required to select students for admission in this professional degree programme.”It said that each Central university is established by an Act of Parliament, and it is governed by the respective Act.The Commission referred to the Central Universities Act, 2009 which said that admissions to Central universities shall be made on merit, either through common entrance tests conducted by the university or in combination with other universities or on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examination in such courses where the intake of students is small.“The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a centralized national-level entrance test for admission to Law programmes. CLAT has been primarily adopted by the premier National Law Universities in India for admission of students to Law courses. University of Delhi with the approval of its Academic Council and Executive Council has resolved to admit students in its Five-Year Integrated Law courses through CLAT, a centralized national-level entrance test,” it contended..The UGC, therefore, sought dismissal of the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a law student named Prince Singh challenging the DU’s decision to rely on CLAT for admission into five-year law course. .Senior Advocate Pinky Anand with Advocates Mohinder JS Rupal, Hardik Rupaland, Saudamini Sharma, Shantanu Raj and Sachpreet Kaur appeared for DU.Advocate Ravikesh K Sinha represented the UGC.Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Nidhi Raman with Advocates Zubin Singh and Akash Mishra appeared for the Union of India..[Read Order]