Delhi High Court Allows DU to offers admissions based on CLAT for current LLB courses.

21 September, 2:10 PM

Delhi High Court Allows DU to offers admissions based on CLAT for current LLB courses.

On Monday, September 18th, 2023, the Delhi High Court sanctioned DU to admit students to its newly addressed 5 year integrated law course based on the CLAT-UG scores obtained by the students, conducted the previous year but solely for the current educational year 2023-2024. 

The interim order was sanctioned by a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula in a plea against Delhi University’s (DU) judgment to offer admissions to students through CLAT-UG 2023 score and not through CUET (Common University Entrance Test). 

The bench also noted that the topic is connected with a much broader point- whether CUET should be compulsory for students seeking admissions in all central institutes or whether such varsities should be allowed to make judgments in the case of admission. “The matter requires consideration. However, for the present academic year, as in all universities the classes have started, Delhi University is permitted to admit students for the five-year law courses based upon CLAT-UG which is a common law entrance test," the bench stated.

However, UGC further remarked that  CUET will be compulsory for admissions in all general degree programs in all central universities. 

The HC also noted the view of the UGC chairman that CUET is not compulsory for professional courses such as law, engineering, and medicine and that the institutes delivering such courses can take on additional admission measures, including appearing for entrance tests like CLAT and NEET. Earlier, the UGC chairman was asked to file an affidavit clarifying whether CUET was compulsory for admission to five-year law degree courses in central universities when two of its top administrators expressed in different tones on the matter.

The Center, on the other hand, asserted that the admission criteria for professional fields such as law, engineering, and medicine are discerned by their specificities and special skills, so the individual prerequisites of each professional course must be pursued. 

The plea sought admission to five-year integrated law courses through CUET-UG 2023. 

It declares that CUET-UG 2023 was made known by the Union Ministry of Education (MOE) in all UG programs of central universities for the 2023-2024 academic session.