National Law School University of India (NLSIU), Bengaluru, announced that it will be refunding 50 percent of the exam fee to the candidates who appeared for the National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT-2020), which was struck down by the government. The Supreme Court had directed the university to consider the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) scores of students and also directed that admissions in all the 22 National Law Universities be conducted in accordance with CLAT 2020, which is to be held on September 28.
In a statement, the law school said that they will implement the orders of the Supreme Court. They also noted, "We have begun working with our vendors to initiate refunds to all students. Students may expect refunds, after a deduction of INR 75 as application processing charges, to reach them in the next 9-14 working days." NLSIU had charged Rs 150 for general category candidates and Rs 125 for the SC/ST candidates as examination fee.
NLSIU had conducted the NLAT on September 12 for admissions into its five-year BA-LLB (Hons) programme.
The bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justices RS Reddy and MR Shah passed the order on Monday. “The home based online examination as proposed by the respondent (NLSIU) for NLAT-2020-21 could not be held to be a test which was able to maintain transparency and integrity of the examination," read the order by the bench. The court was hearing a plea filed by former NLSIU VC, Prof R Venkata Rao and the parent of an aspirant against the entrance examination. In the judgement the bench said that all NLUs should start their academic session by mid October based on CLAT scores. CLAT is a national level entrance test for admission into all 22 NLUs in India.
On September 11, the top court had asked NLSIU Bengaluru to go ahead and hold a separate exam on September 12. However, it restrained the university from announcing the results and admitting any student till the pendency of the plea.
The bench said that it was an important matter which needs to be decided, had issued notice to the university and its vice chancellor Professor Sudhir Krishnaswamy and sought their responses on the plea. The plea had called the holding of a separate examination as "manifestly arbitrary and illegal."