Chanakya National Law University. Telegraph picture

Come 2013, more aspiring lawyers can dream of studying in the top law institutes in the country.

Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), which conducts the admission test for 14 national law universities, has decided to bring down the minimum eligibility criteria (read marks) from 50 per cent to 45 per cent in the Plus II examinations. The SC/ST students need to score 40 per cent marks instead of the previous 45 per cent.

The decision was taken in a meeting held in Raipur in the last week of September. Representatives of all national law universities attended it.

“The decision to reduce the minimum eligibility marks has been made so that more students can take the (entrance) test,” Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), Patna, registrar S.P. Singh who was present in the meeting, told The Telegraph.

He said another reason behind reducing the marks was the decision of the Bar Council of India to make minimum 45 per cent marks in LLB to start legal practice.

The decision, however, has not gone down well with everybody. CNLU sources said the reduction could affect the quality of the students.

“There has been a steep decline in the quality of students (at CNLU) in the past two years after the university decided to increase the number of seats from 80 to 140 in 2010. Reducing the minimum eligibility marks will affect the quality further,” a fourth-year CNLU student said.

Registrar Singh differed. “The reduction in the minimum eligibility criteria will not affect the quality, as the students are selected on the basis of a written test followed by an interview,” he said.

The process of admission to 14 national law universities will start from December 14. The sale of admission forms would start on January 1, 2013, and continue till March 31. The written test across different centres would be held on May 12 and the result would be declared by May 31.

The 14 national law universities include National Law School of India University, Bangalore, Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad, National Law Institute University Bhopal, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Calcutta, Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur, and CNLU, Patna.

Around 25,000 students take the admission test every year for about 1,300 seats at these universities. CNLU has 140 seats, including 20 reserved for the NRIs.

Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur, has been made the organising university for conducting the test this year.