CLAT 2021: SC dismisses plea seeking to postpone law entrance test slated for 23 July

A plea seeking deferment of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2021, scheduled to be conducted on 23 July, has been rejected by the Supreme Court Tuesday, 20 July. Furthermore, the apex court has ordered that all safety measures need to be strictly followed as per government guidelines during the examination. In today’s hearing, the apex court also uplifted the rule where the General Body of the Consortium of National Law Universities on 12 June had asked all students to get vaccinated before appearing for the exam. Reacting to this, the court asserted that the authorities should not insist students on getting themselves vaccinated. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, most of the entrance exams including Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) have been deferred. Following suit, a petition was filed seeking postponement of the CLAT 2021 due to the same reason. In this regard, an appeal was stated where the deferment of the exam was asked till the COVID-19 situation normalises. Originally slated to be held in May, the exam got postponed to 13 June due to the second coronavirus wave. Later, it got deferred again to 23 July. As the COVID-19 cases are now declining in the country, the dates of CLAT 2021 will not be pushed ahead any further. As per the latest update and circular, the exam authorities have banned candidates from wearing smartwatches during the examination. Only simple analog wrist watches will be allowed inside the exam hall. The two-hour-long entrance test will take place between 2 pm and 4 pm for both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses. This year, the CLAT exam will be conducted in pen and paper mode. For the unversed, CLAT is a national-level entrance exam offered by 22 National Law Universities around the country. This exam is for admissions to UG and PG law programmes. It is organised by the Consortium of National Law Universities for interested and eligible candidates.