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Rakesh Kumar Agarwalla & Anr. v. National Law School of India University, Bengaluru & Ors.

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2020 INSC 557Decided 21 Sept 2020
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1030 of 2020
Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice R. Subhash Reddy · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

For over a decade, India's National Law Universities had admitted students through a single, jointly-run Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). In 2020, the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru broke away and announced its own separate entrance exam, the "National Law Aptitude Test" (NLAT), just days before the scheduled CLAT exam. A prospective student's father and a former Vice-Chancellor of NLSIU challenged this notification as unlawful and unfair to students who had already prepared for the common CLAT exam.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that NLSIU's unilateral decision to hold a separate exam, breaking away from the consortium-agreed CLAT process, was not in accordance with law and quashed the NLAT notification and the related press release. The Court noted serious complaints about technical glitches and alleged malpractice during the NLAT exam that had already been conducted, but declined to rule on those fact-specific allegations, leaving them to be examined through the University's own criminal complaints. It directed that the previously scheduled CLAT-2020 exam proceed as planned with proper COVID-19 safety protocols, that NLSIU admit students based on CLAT results, and that the consortium's administrative structure (including restoring NLSIU's displaced administrative role) be normalized so the common process could run smoothly going forward.

Lesson Learnt

A single institution cannot unilaterally abandon a jointly-agreed, multi-institution admission process at the last minute to the detriment of thousands of students who relied on it: courts will step in to protect the settled expectations of an entire cohort of exam-takers against such disruptive, individual departures.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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