The National Testing Agency (NTA) has informed the Delhi High Court of its willingness to conduct the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) in regional languages, including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, and more. This comes in response to a petition requesting the conduct of CLAT-2024 in regional languages, not just English.
NTA’s Affidavit:
NTA submitted an affidavit to the Delhi High Court, stating its capacity to prepare CLAT question papers in multiple languages. The agency has a pool of experts and translators for this purpose. If the decision is made to conduct the test in regional languages, it could be scheduled for the third or fourth week of January 2024, allowing a minimum of four months for preparation.
Petitioner’s Argument:
A Delhi University law student, Sudhanshu Pathak, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) claiming that the CLAT UG exam discriminates against students with regional language educational backgrounds, lacking a level playing field.
Consortium of National Law Universities’ Response:
The Consortium of National Law Universities informed the High Court that CLAT 2024 preparations are well underway. Introducing additional language options without proper deliberation and studies would lead to significant administrative and operational challenges. The consortium has established an expert committee of vice-chancellors from five NLUs to study the possibility of offering CLAT in additional languages, besides English. The committee’s findings will help prepare for future CLAT exams in additional languages.