BENGALURU: The Consortium of National Law Universities has resolved that instead of collecting a fee for the entire year which is the usual practice, only 50% of the fee shall be paid at the time of admission in various National Law Universities, in view of the Covid-19 hardship. Candidates will be given the option to revise their preferences of NLUs if they so desire.
The announcement by the consortium comes on the heels of the entrance test CLAT 2020, which was held across 300 centres in the country on Monday by the Consortium of National Law Universities. It was held across 18 centres in the State on Monday, amid the Karnataka Bandh called by farmers and other associations.
Of the 75,183 candidates who applied for CLAT 2020, 78.9 per cent appeared for the examination. This number was lower than for the standalone entrance examination NLAT, held by National Law School of India University (NLSIU) earlier this month. NLAT had 94 per cent attendance for its undergraduate admissions, and 97 per cent admission for postgraduate admissions. The examination, however, was invalidated by the Supreme Court and aspirants to the top law college were mandated to write the CLAT.
Central observers appointed by the Consortium have not reported any technical glitch in Monday’s exam. Students were given a chance to review their answers, and no negative marks were given for not attempting any question, said a note by the Consortium.
The number of questions for CLAT (UG) was also reduced from 200 to 150. This year, CLAT was comprehension-based -- students were given paragraphs and questions were based on subjects mentioned in the paragraphs and related context or information. To help students familiarise themselves with the new pattern of CLAT, a number of mocks were conducted and for the first-time, videos were uploaded on the Consortium website, giving them tips on how to prepare for CLAT 2020.
The test, which was originally scheduled in May, was put off to September 28. Supposed to be done in pen and paper mode, it was conducted online due to Covid-19. All test centres were provided with isolation labs, where candidates who had high fever or other symptoms of Covid-19 were accommodated and allowed to write the test. In isolation labs, invigilators were required to don PPE kits. Fortunately, very few insolation rooms were used, said the Consortium in a note.