No student should be excluded: Delhi High Court to NLU Consortium on plea for CLAT in regional languages

The Delhi High Court on Thursday said that language barrier should not come in the way of students giving Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) for admission to various National Law Universities (NLUs) across India [Sudhanshu Pathak v. Consortium of NLUs and Ors]..Currently, the CLAT is held only in English and students from non-English medium schools often find it difficult to crack the exam.A Bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Gedela observed that there may be practical difficulties involved in administering the exam in regional languages but asked the Consortium of NLUs to a take concrete decision on the issue within eight weeks. "The Advisory Board has made certain recommendations. The matter is still under consideration and more time sought to arrive at a final decisions. We grant eight weeks time. We reiterate that while taking decisions, the Consortium shall also be guided by observations in our past order. We expect that some concrete decision is taken in this matter, so that no exclusion on account of any barrier of any language occurs for those who seek admission in NLUs," the Court's order said.The Court was hearing a plea seeking directions to the Consortium of NLUs to hold CLAT in regional languages.The Bench today also expressed reservations about how far the Court could interfere when it came to examining the issue.The Court may not be the appropriate forum to debate such matters, the Bench added. "This (Court) is not a forum for debate. Ideally, many things should happen. Courts do not have a magic wand. Getting emotional will not get you anywhere. You are right to some extent. Things are happening in the society slowly. 10 years ago IIT exam was not held in local language, now it is held. Ultimately it is a policy decision. Every NLU is governed by the Act it is formed under," Chief Justice Upadhyaya observed..The Chief Justice added that while no one can deny that the exam should ideally be held in local languages too, the issue was how to implement this. "Nobody can deny the need for exam in local language. How to get it done, that is the issue. People from every background, you will find in the Court. English is only a language," he said..Meanwhile, the petitioner's counsel today again flagged the difficulties faced by students who were more proficient in Hindi or a regional language than in English. "By the time the Hindi medium student understands the questions, the time is over," the lawyer said. "I understand. Your medium cannot be changed. That is why we are saying a roadmap should be filed first. Nobody has the right to say I will study only in NLUs," Justice Tushar Gedela replied..Delhi High Court seeks roadmap on conducting CLAT in regional languages.The Central government too reiterated its stance that that steps should be taken to conduct CLAT in regional languages. "The door must be kept open. Why should only English medium students become lawyers and judges? Why should only a few study the subject?" the Centre's counsel argued. "You only set up NLUs. We don’t agree. In this court, there are practicing advocates and judges who come from all languages," Justice Gedela pointed out. .The Bar Council of India (BCI) too expressed its support for the petitioner's 2023. Earlier, the NLU Consortium had submitted that it would not be possible to hold CLAT 2024 in Hindi and other regional languages. However, at the time, it added that an expert committee has been constituted to examine the prospect of holding future CLAT exams in Indian vernacular languages..In the order passed today, the Court indicated that it expected the NLU Consortium to take a concrete decision in the matter in eight weeks and ensure that no student is excluded from CLAT on account of language barriers. .The matter will be heard next on August 20..Senior Advocate Sanjay Poddar with advocates Sakshi Raghav and Akash Vajpai appeared for the petitioner Sudhanshu Pathak. .[Read Live Coverage]