Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Mrigank Kejriwal vs Consortium Of National Law ... on 6 December, 2022
December 6, 2022 Item No. 1 Court No.1 PA(RB) WPA (P) 605 of 2022 Mrigank Kejriwal vs. Consortium of National Law Universities & Ors. Mr. Soumya Majumdar, Mr. Pratyush Jhunjhunwala, Mr. Deepan Sircar Ms. Ananya Sinha Ms. Zehra Khan, Advocates ... for the petitioner By this public interest petition, the petitioner has challenged the press release dated 31st of October, 2022 for holding the Common Law Admission Test, 2023 (CLAT 2023) on 18th of December, 2022. Petitioner has also challenged the notification dated 30th of August, 2022 issued by the Nation Law University, Delhi for holding All India Law Entrance Test - 2023 (AILET - 2023) for admission to five year B.A.LL.B. (Hons.), LL.M. and Ph.D Programme on 11th of December, 2022.
The plea of the petitioner is that prior to COVID - 19 pandemic, CLAT used to be held between the month of May and June after completion of 12th standard Board Examinations of the students. During COVID period in 2020, the CLAT could not be held in May/June but thereafter, it was held in June/July. According to the petitioner, the decision to hold the CLAT examination in December is irrational, unreasonable and without any justification. It is alleged that such a decision will give lesser time to the students to prepare. 2 Having heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and on perusal of the record, it is noticed that the petitioner is not a candidate preparing for or appearing in the CLAT Examination. In the writ petition, the petitioner has only stated himself to be a public spirited individual and citizen of India but he has not disclosed as to how he is concerned with the dates of CLAT Examination. None of the students has come forward questioning the press release and the notification fixing the date of entrance test for admission in law course. No material at the instance of the students or the examination body is on record supporting the petitioner's plea that the fixing of dates of examination is prejudicial to the interest of the students. That apart, it is also noticed that the notification was issued by the NLU, Delhi on 30th of August, 2022 and press release was issued by the consortium of the National Law University on 31st of October, 2022. The examination dates are approaching and the petitioner has filed the petition after lapse of substantial time on 1st of December, 2022. Hence, we are of the opinion that the present public interest petition cannot be maintained. Thus, we find no ground to interfere in the present public interest petition which is accordingly dismissed.
[Prakash Shrivastava, C.J.] [Rajarshi Bharadwaj, J.]