On November 15, the Consortium of National Law Universities declared that the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) will be held twice in 2022. The exam that is to happen in May 2023 will now be taking place in December in the year 2022. That is May 8, 2022, and December 18, 2022.
In a meeting held at NALSAR Law University, under the chairmanship of Prof Faizan Mustafa, it was also declared that the counseling fee for the general category lessened from 50,000 to 30,000. Similarly, the fee for the scheduled and backward classes has been reduced to 20,000.
Does the timing and the exam make a difference to industry and the exam takers?
Rajnarayan Vishwakarma, professor from B eduCARE, said,
"I don't think there is any drawback to this decision. Only if the board exams get delayed; might it be a problem for the students. Otherwise, there is no issue. It's quite debatable. From the students' point of view, it's great for them, who have not started their preparation.
Lastly, in this current pandemic situation, it is difficult for them also to manage the dates. Generally, this exam would happen post- 12th board exams. So there would be clashing of dates between boards and CLAT. So, considering that preponing is a good decision."
"It's a little early. We don't know if CLAT is going to happen once or twice. Most probably, it's going to happen once. Honestly, I don't see the logic behind a decision like that. Because, if you see the other law exams- like AILET, MH CET, SLAT, they would probably still happen in May. So now, students have to prepare for the exams differently. However, It tends to give an advantage to the repeaters.
Having said that, if it's a disadvantage to one, it's a disadvantage to everyone. The students should look at it as a great opportunity,” said Prasan Kamat,the director of Law School Tutorial.
An advocate from Mumbai, Jasleen Kaur, had a similar opinion. "I think that it is okay if they have preponed the CLAT to Dec 2022. Since this isn't a last-minute decision and there is more than a year to prepare for the same, it's fair.”
She added that "It will reduce the pressure on the students as if the exam would have been in 2023 then together with two years’ pass out students would be appearing, increasing the competition. And since it has been moved up to 2022, the competition has been reduced, which is a good sign for students passing out next year and also releasing the mental pressure for them."
While commenting on this change CLAT aspirants say, "I definitely think the preponement has given all of us a push to start preparing and dedicating even more time toward the exam.
With decisions like these, there will always be a certain number of people at a disadvantage. Those who go into the examination with 1 to 2 months of preparation will definitely have to start preparing sooner, meaning their entire schedule could see some long term changes which maybe difficult to adapt to.
However, I do not see a particular positive or negative of this decision. We as students have not been provided any rationale behind making such a decision. I think more than analysing whether this was good or bad, we're all just trying to embrace the change in the best way possible. There is a slight uncertainty and nervousness that I feel, and I believe others do too. So currently I think we're all just trying to navigate through that." Says Aaliya Aamir Mithaiwala from Jamnabai Narsee School.
Another aspirant, Trisha Gogri, Arya Vidya Mandir school, says, "According to me it definitely makes a difference that the CLAT is preponed and yes we will get less time compared to when the exam was going to be taken earlier but if we give proper time in the preparation it won’t affect much. Reducing screen time and avoiding distractions and giving enough time to prepare daily that too dedicatedly.
However, the disadvantage is that the time is less compared to before so there will be less time to prepare but we will get time to prepare for 12 boards.
