CLAT 2018: Supreme Court Directs NUALS To Address Students' Grievances
New Delhi:
Listening to the plea of students who alleged irregularities in the CLAT 2018 exam conducted on May 13, Supreme Court has directed NUALS to look into the complaints of the students. NUALS has set up a two-member committee to look into the matter. The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra was informed by the counsel appearing for the NUALS that a two-member committee was set up to look into the complaints of the students.
The committee which is headed by retired Kerala High Court judge Justice M R Hariharan Nair, will look into complaints received by students who had appeared in the exam.
The court also said that students would be allowed time till May 27, 7 pm to submit their grievances. The Panel will go through all the complaints received and will make appropriate decision on a case-to-case basis.
The court has also asked the committee to submit the status report of the complaints and redressal before it by May 30. The CLAT 2018 result declaration is scheduled for May 31, 2018.
The bench has also directed NUALS to set up an email id dedicated to receiving complaints from the students within two hours today.
The court was hearing the pleas filed by six candidates who appeared for the CLAT, seeking a direction to cancel the examination and conduct re-examination.
In the plea, students alleged that they had to face several technical difficulties during the on-line test. Students also complained of poor infrastructure at the exam centres and lack of proper guidance from the examination staff. The students also sought an interim stay on the publication of final result until a decision is made on their plea.
The apex court had yesterday asked the NUALS to come up with a "wholesome solution" for the complaints received from students. CLAT is conducted for the admission to 19 NLUs. NUALS, with the aid of private firm M/s Sify Technologies Ltd, had conducted CLAT 2018 on May 13.
The irregularities were faced by students across the country and apart from the apex court, six high courts in the country are also listening to pleas submitted by students. A vacation bench had yesterday restrained all the high courts from entertaining any fresh plea and hearing the pending ones on the issue.
The bench had then asked NUALS to inform it about a grievance redressal mechanism, if any, to deal with the 251 complaints submitted by the candidates with regards to the CLAT 2018 exam and said that there must be a system in place to address such issues.
In the plea submitted before the court, students also alleged problems such as power cuts, failure of log-in system, slow biometric verification, blank screens, substantial loss of time in system log-ins, frequent resetting of computer systems, hanging of computer systems, server shutdown and difficulties in moving from one question to another.
The students reasoned that these technical issues caused loss of crucial time. Students were expected to solve 200 questions in two hours and the loss of exam time duration could affect their marks and consequently their ranking. In the petition, candidates said that it was a gross violation of fundamental rights of equality and right to life under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution as a simple difference of one or two incorrect answers or un-attempted questions can cause a shift in the ranks by 1000 or more.
The petitioners also said that the high courts of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bombay, Punjab and Haryana and Rajasthan, both the Jaipur and Jodhpur benches, have also been hearing the pleas challenging the CLAT 2018 examination and have served notices in this regard.
The Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan High Court had on May 21 issued notice on the plea challenging CLAT 2018 examination and said if the results were declared before May 29, it will be subject to the outcome of the petition pending before it. The Delhi High Court had on May 22 sought responses from the Centre and the Bar Council of India (BCI) on a plea requesting cancellation of CLAT exam.
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The committee which is headed by retired Kerala High Court judge Justice M R Hariharan Nair, will look into complaints received by students who had appeared in the exam.
The court also said that students would be allowed time till May 27, 7 pm to submit their grievances. The Panel will go through all the complaints received and will make appropriate decision on a case-to-case basis.
The court has also asked the committee to submit the status report of the complaints and redressal before it by May 30. The CLAT 2018 result declaration is scheduled for May 31, 2018.
The bench has also directed NUALS to set up an email id dedicated to receiving complaints from the students within two hours today.
The court was hearing the pleas filed by six candidates who appeared for the CLAT, seeking a direction to cancel the examination and conduct re-examination.
In the plea, students alleged that they had to face several technical difficulties during the on-line test. Students also complained of poor infrastructure at the exam centres and lack of proper guidance from the examination staff. The students also sought an interim stay on the publication of final result until a decision is made on their plea.
The apex court had yesterday asked the NUALS to come up with a "wholesome solution" for the complaints received from students. CLAT is conducted for the admission to 19 NLUs. NUALS, with the aid of private firm M/s Sify Technologies Ltd, had conducted CLAT 2018 on May 13.
The irregularities were faced by students across the country and apart from the apex court, six high courts in the country are also listening to pleas submitted by students. A vacation bench had yesterday restrained all the high courts from entertaining any fresh plea and hearing the pending ones on the issue.
The bench had then asked NUALS to inform it about a grievance redressal mechanism, if any, to deal with the 251 complaints submitted by the candidates with regards to the CLAT 2018 exam and said that there must be a system in place to address such issues.
In the plea submitted before the court, students also alleged problems such as power cuts, failure of log-in system, slow biometric verification, blank screens, substantial loss of time in system log-ins, frequent resetting of computer systems, hanging of computer systems, server shutdown and difficulties in moving from one question to another.
The students reasoned that these technical issues caused loss of crucial time. Students were expected to solve 200 questions in two hours and the loss of exam time duration could affect their marks and consequently their ranking. In the petition, candidates said that it was a gross violation of fundamental rights of equality and right to life under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution as a simple difference of one or two incorrect answers or un-attempted questions can cause a shift in the ranks by 1000 or more.
The petitioners also said that the high courts of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bombay, Punjab and Haryana and Rajasthan, both the Jaipur and Jodhpur benches, have also been hearing the pleas challenging the CLAT 2018 examination and have served notices in this regard.
The Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan High Court had on May 21 issued notice on the plea challenging CLAT 2018 examination and said if the results were declared before May 29, it will be subject to the outcome of the petition pending before it. The Delhi High Court had on May 22 sought responses from the Centre and the Bar Council of India (BCI) on a plea requesting cancellation of CLAT exam.
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