NLAT 2020: SC gives permission for test, but results can't be declared before the final verdict

The Supreme Court has said while the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, can hold its entrance test National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT), 2020, on September 12, the results cannot be declared before the apex court decides on the matter.

This means that no results can be declared and no admissions can take place till the top court reaches to a conclusion. NLSIU had said the NLAT results and provisional admission will be declared on the NLAT website and by email on September 15. The academic term was to begin on September 18.

The next hearing on the matter is on September 16.

The issue pertains to a joint petition filed by a parent of a Common Law Admission Test (CLAT 2020) aspirant and the former NLSIU vice chancellor R Venkata Rao in the apex court, challenging the sudden withdrawal of the standard law entrance test. 

Though the CLAT is the entrance exam for admission into all national law universities, NLSIU announced on September 3 that it will conduct its own entrance examination for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

During the hearing on September 11, senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta appearing for the petitioners said holding a separate examination is a violation of bye-laws. The NLAT 2020 will be a home-based online test.

However, senior advocate Arvind Datar appearing for NLSIU said all the arrangements have been made and that the university would have lost Rs 16 crore if student admissions were not completed by September 2020.

He also added that from 2021, NLSIU will go back to the CLAT and the NLAT 2020 is only for this year.

NLSIU took this decision after the CLAT 2020 was postponed to September 28 amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Also read: All you need to know about NLSIU's new entrance test