CNLU student Purushottam Kumar and (right) his student Shivam, who cleared the Common Law Admission Test, in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Students of Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) have played the role of true mentors, paving the way for a youth from a lower middle class family into one of the premier law cradles in the country.

Shivam (17), who was trained free of cost by CNLU students, has cracked the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), the results of which were announced on Monday.

Shivam secured 136 out of 200 marks and has received a call from National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Calcutta. Coming from a middle-class family, Shivam, whose father is an employee with Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB), cracked the CLAT in his first attempt.

Several CNLU students, under the banner of Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA), a brainchild of Shamnad Basheer — a professor from West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBBUJS) — are providing free coaching to students from economically weaker sections of society.

Purushottam Kumar, CNLU IDIA head and a student of the varsity, said: “This year, we provided coaching to six students based on the entrance test conducted last year. The students who cleared the test were provided two-hour coaching for five days a week on the institute’s premises.” The six students were tutored for eight months.

Shivam, a DAV, BSEB, passout, has secured 283 rank in the general category. “I have received a call from NUJS which is said to be the third best law institute in the country,” he said.

Shivam, who wants to pursue litigation, said he would try to serve the society in whatever way possible and his priority would be to provide free legal service to people belonging to the economically weaker sections.

Purushottam said: “The national law schools in the country are a brand name today in providing quality legal education. However, students form economically weaker sections and from rural areas fail to get admission in such law institutes due to lack of awareness.” The IDIA is planning to expand its base and entrance tests would be held in other district too. The IDIA members provide coaching on legal aptitude, general awareness and English. CNLU faculty members also participate in their endeavour on regular basis.

The IDIA cell also gets financial assistance from some lawyers of Patna High Court and few corporate agencies. Besides Shivam, there are a few more students who have secured good marks in CLAT exam. They are waiting for the second merit list, which will be prepared by law institutes.

The CLAT results were declared on May 28. The examination was conducted on May 13. As many as 14 top law institutes including National Law School of India University, Bangalore, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, National Law Institute University, Bhopal and others allow admission to students on the basis of the test scores.

S.P. Singh, the registrar of CNLU, said: “Based on the merit list prepared by CLAT, the CNLU has prepared the merit list of 120 students for admission in 2012-17 session. The cut-off has been fixed from 137 to 128 marks for admission to CNLU.”