The Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) will organise the Common Law Admission Test (Clat)-2017.
The national law university, which the Bihar government established in 2006 as a public university dedicated to the field of legal education, will conduct the Clat for the first time since inception. CNLU registrar S.P. Singh said: "For the first time the CNLU got the opportunity to organise the national-level law entrance test (Clat). We have started the preparations for the test."
The Clat will be held on May 14. The notification regarding the Clat-2017 will be released on December 25.
The form-filling process for admission to 18 national law universities will begin on January 1. Students who have completed their Intermediate examination (Class XII) can appear for the test. The last date for form filling is March 31.
This time, the Clat administration has fixed the upper age limit of 20 years for appearing for the test. The confusion over fixing the upper age limit had surfaced in 2014 after some students approached the Allahabad High Court appealing to remove the age bar for appearing in Clat.
The Allahabad High Court had removed the age bar and because of the order, in 2015 and 2016, there was no age bar for Clat. However, for Clat-2017, the Supreme Court had fixed the upper age limit of 20 years. Even the Bar Council of India has fixed the upper age limit of 20 years.
Welcoming the decision, Clat aspirant Abhishek Prasad said: "It is good that the Supreme Court has fixed the age bar. All premier entrance examinations, including the IITs, medical and civil services has age bar. Once the age bar is fixed, students get serious to clear the examination. No age bar fans laxity among students."
Apart from removing the age bar, from next year, 18 national law universities will participate in the test. From next year, the Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur, has enrolled with the Clat. Till last year, there were 17 national law universities.
The Clat results will be declared on May 29. Students will get three counselling chances after the results are declared. The admission has to be completed by July first week.
