Conducting CLAT exam in English can't be barrier for students: Delhi High Court

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said the English language in which the Common Law Admission Test was conducted couldn't be a barrier for aspiring students instructed in regional languages. A bench of acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said it could not enter into the domain of policy making by directing the Consortium of the National Law Universities (NLUs) to hold the examination in regional languages.

"We consider it necessary to emphasise that the languages in which the entrance examination to national law universities is conducted cannot be a barrier for students who are otherwise being instructed in other languages," the court said. The bench, however, sought a "roadmap" from the body to show it was "alive" to the issue. It was hearing a PIL for conducting the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2024 in regional languages apart from English.

The bench agreed with the petitioner's stand that holding the examination in regional language might be necessary for a "larger inclusion" and said it would be appropriate to approach the matter with the aim to ensure it wasn't a barrier. The senior counsel appearing for the consortium said the PIL was not adversarial and an expert committee was looking into the issue.

The counsel however stressed there were concerns in holding the examination in other languages on account of issues of translation. The court "hoped" the policy makers were alive to the issue and there would be adoption of other regional languages in the national level entrance examination.

"To some extent, it is a matter of policy, something that you have to evolve yourself but the only requirement is that you must be aware of the shift that is happening for introducing vernacular, Hindi in particular. It is the national language for this country and you have now judgements of the Supreme Court which are being translated," the court said.

The petitioner, in his PIL, said CLAT (UG) examination "discriminated" and failed to provide a "level playing field" to the students whose educational backgrounds were rooted in regional languages. BCI had "supported" the issue raised by the petitioner Sudhanshu Pathak.

"In a hyper-competitive paper, they (students from non-English language background) are linguistically disempowered as they have to surpass the additional hurdle of learning and mastering a new language," said Pathak. The matter would be heard in March.