The Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) has told the Delhi High Court that it will not be possible to conduct the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2024 in Hindi and other Indian regional languages, and it will be held in English only. The Consortium of NLUs made this submission in an affidavit in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a law student named Sudhanshu Pathak demanding that CLAT 2024 be held in Hindi and other regional languages.
The Consortium claimed that the CLAT 2024 examination pattern and language mode have already been made public, and many hopefuls have already begun preparing for the same as well. The test is scheduled to take place in December 2023.
The affidavit filed by the Consortium claimed, “on the administrative side of the consortium, preparatory work of setting the paper/key, requisite contract of software technical support (OMR) etc. began in the month of February 2023 itself and are now in advanced stage of completion. Hence, the option for other scheduled options of language is a near impossibility for the 2024 CLAT to be held in December 2023.”
Additionally, it was contended that the CLAT exam cannot be contrasted with other admission and qualifying tests like the UPSC, IIT-JEE, and NEET because they are conducted on a far larger scale. They further claimed that not all regional languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution have been adopted for these exams. It is not clear why examinations conducted at a much larger scale can be conducted in Indian languages but the much smaller law exam can’t be.
The Consortium further stated, “The Respondent No. 1 does not dispute the need to examine the issue more closely, and, as set out above, is actively doing so internally. However, in its humble submission, it would be highly premature for judicial intervention in this matter at this stage, especially absent any data to show that there is already a significant pool of students wanting to take the CLAT examination in the scheduled languages despite the medium of instruction at all NLUs being English only.”
While the Consortium of NLUs said that the exam can’t be held in other languages this year because the process has already started, it also claimed that they can’t hold it in any other language other than English even in future. According to them, as proceedings in higher courts are conducted only in English and the medium of instruction at colleges is also only English, the admission test will also be in English.
They made this conclusion based on a report by an expert group, which was established to look into the possibility of holding the CLAT tests in Indian vernacular languages.
They cited the fact that English is the language of instruction in NLUs and that the Bar Council of India (BCI) Rules of Legal Education, 2008 mandate that English be the language of instruction for both the five-year and three-year legal courses.
It mentioned, “English is also a compulsory paper. The NLUs, in particular, prepare professionals to be proficient in English for practice in High Courts and Supreme Courts, which have English as the court language. Without exploring the feasibility of transitioning to teaching in the scheduled language options in National Law Universities (if permitted by the BCI) and its connection with the use of English as a Court language (in High Courts and the Supreme Court), an ad hoc measure of testing in scheduled languages is not advisable.”
The committee also claimed that there are procedural problems including translation difficulties in the field of law, preparation materials for students in regional languages, software development, distribution of test questions across the nation, costs associated with the process, institutional support systems that must be established at NLUs for students who are unable to speak English.
The Consortium revealed to the Court that the committee convened its initial meeting on June 25 and will now reconvene in the second week of July to consider all of these matters.
The Consortium highlighted that a committee has been established to advise the Governing Body and Executive Committee of the Consortium on ways to enhance legal education. It is led by former Supreme Court Justice Indu Malhotra.
It said, “It is to be noted that the Advisory Board, together with the Governing Body and Executive Committee of Respondent No. 1 (consortium), will thereafter work together to navigate the substantive and procedural issues 11 collectively identified (both on the basis of the report of the Expert Committee as also from their own deliberations) to collectively arrive at the best solution and prepare a roadmap for expanding the reach of the CLAT.”
The stand of the consortium comes against the backdrop of the increasing demand for the introduction of Indian languages in Indian courts, and steps taken in this direction by the central and state governments. Former Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had given lots of importance to using Indian languages in the courts.
Earlier, the Government of India had received proposals from the Governments of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Karnataka to permit the use of Tamil, Gujarati, Hindi, Bengali and Kannada in the proceedings of the Madras High Court, Gujarat High Court, Chhattisgarh High Court, Calcutta High Court and Karnataka High Court respectively. Accordingly, the centre had sent the proposal to the Supreme Court for its consideration, but the Chief Justice of India informed the govt in January 2016 that the Full Court of the Supreme Court of India rejected the proposal.
Under the aegis of the Ministry of Law & Justice, the Bar Council of India has constituted ‘Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti’ chaired by former Chief Justice of India, Justice S.A. Bobde. The committee is developing a Common Core Vocabulary close to all Indian languages for the purpose of translating legal material into regional languages.
