CLAT permanent secretariat to be established at NLSIU Bangalore

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 4: The National Law University Consortium has decided to constitute a Permanent Secretariat, a pseudo-permanent body for conducting Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). The CLAT Permanent Secretariat will be commissioned at National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore, which apparently is the NLU Consortium Headquarter, also. The decision was taken in third meeting of NLUs Consortium held at National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) Kochi, yesterday.

Prof Venkata Rao, has handed over the presidential charge to Prof Faizan Mustafa, the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) Hyderabad Vice Chancellor.

The CLAT Permanent Secretariat and NLU Consortium also acknowledged Prof Srikrishna Deva Rao as the CLAT 2019 Convenor.

“It was unanimously resolved that CLAT will have a permanent secretariat at NLSIU Bangalore. CLAT will now be conducted by the newly formed executive committee of the consortium that would have NLS, Bangalore, NALSAR, Hyderabad and NLIU, Bhopal as its ex-officio members, CLAT Convenor of the year, and the CLAT Convenor of the following year and two co-opted VCs of NLUs nominated by the CLAT Convener who have past experience of conducting Common Law Admission Test,” informed Dr Mustafa, the President of the Consortium.

Prof Faizan Mustafa also said that the Permanent Secretariat will be able to provide stability to the Common Law Admission Test, which it needs. “We are working towards finding ways and means to get National Law Universities (NLUs) status of ‘Institutions of Eminence’. The next meeting of NLU Consortium is scheduled for October 17, 2018, in NLSIU Bangalore,” The Consortium President added.

Backgrounder

A petition filed by Prof Shamnad Basheer seeking immediate intervention of the Supreme Court against the ‘opaque and inefficient’ conduct of Common Law Admission Test is still pending before the apex court.

Prof Basheer, an ex-WBNUJS faculty and founder of Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA) has sought an intervention by the court to constitute a permanent CLAT body and check the mismanagement in the admission test caused year-on-year.