SC issues notice to Centre, BCI and RGNUL in Basheer’s #CLAT PIL

The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Central Government, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala, and Chairman of the Bar Council of India, Manan Kumar Mishra in a PIL filed by Prof. Shamnad Basheer..Basheer has sought the constitution of a permanent body for conducting the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT)..The matter was heard by a Division Bench comprising Justices TS Thakur and Gopala Gowda in court room 2 of the Supreme Court..Senior Advocate KK Venugopal appeared for Basheer, along with advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Liz Mathew, MF Philip and Suhasini Sen..When the hearing began, Justice Thakur minced no words in telling the petitioner that they have their reservations about NLUs –.“Graduates don’t come here…They go to the corporate world.”.After KK Venugopal argued at length about the problems plaguing the CLAT exam, Justice Thakur said,.“We have no problem in considering the matter, but you have to make tangible proposals [for the improvement of CLAT], which can then be placed before the Vice Chancellors of the NLUs.”.The Court then proceeded to ask which University will be conducting the exam next year. Subsequently, the Bench issued notice (returnable in six weeks) to the Central Government, Chairman of BCI and RGNUL, the University which is tasked with conducting the exam next year..You can read the details of arguments raised in the petition here.