CLAT 2020 exam postponed again: this time to September 28, but is it the last?

New Delhi: The Executive Committee of the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) has postponed the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2020, which was slated to be conducted on September 7, in view of the COVID 19 pandemic situation. The exam will now be conducted on September 28.

The national-level law entrance exam will be conducted in computer-based, online, centre-based mode from 2 to 4 pm. Some 68,000 candidates have registered for the exam this year.

CLAT 2020 scores will be used by the 22 participating NLUs for admitting candidates to 5-year integrated LLB and one-year LLM courses.

Pretext of postponing the CLAT 2020 exam

As per the postponement notice uploaded on the official website of the NLU consortium, consortiumofnlus.ac.in, the committee took stock of the prevailing situation in the country before taking the decision, especially:

1. The lockdown announced in the state of West Bengal on September 7

2. Continued lockdown in the state of Bihar till September 6

CLAT 2020 admit card may also get delayed

With the exam being postponed, there is every chance that the admit card will also get delayed. It may be noted that the exam postponement notice has no mention of the CLAT admit card 2020 release date.

Generally the admit card is released two weeks or so before the exam date; if that is the case, the admit card will be available sometime by 2nd to 3rd week of September.

Uncertainty looms large over the conduct of CLAT 2020 exam

There is no doubt that the latest in the series of CLAT exam postponement would send mixed signals to the candidate.

1. If the exam can’t be conducted on September 7, what guarantee it could be conducted on September 27.

2. What will change in 20 days; will COVID-19 pandemic be brought under control?

3. How long will the students be kept in a state of uncertainty? The original exam date was May 10, now it is September 28.

4. So, effectively they have been waiting for more than 4 months now for the exam to be conducted. Is this point being considered when making the postponement decision?

5. What happens if the exam is forced to be cancelled? What will be the procedure for admission: qualifying exam marks, or some other criteria?