The Supreme Court Tuesday refused to postpone the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2021 scheduled to be held on July 23.
The division bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose said that such a plea cannot be filed at the last moment, as it would create suspension in the minds of about 80,000 students.
The Court has directed that all safety measures have to be strictly followed and authorities should not insist on students taking vaccination.
In this petition, the petitioners have challenged June 14 notification. Counsels for the petitioner submitted that it is necessary that certain precautions are taken to protect health. It is submitted that it’s impossible for students to get vaccinated as most are below 18 years of age.
The Court said that, “a notice was issued by Consortium of NLU’s on June 14, by which date of CLAT for both UG and PG exams was fixed on July 23. According to notification, the exam would be a pen and paper conducted at Centres with Covid safety protocols. The candidates were advised to get themselves vaccinated”.
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The Court observed that, “It is also submitted that it will be difficult for students residing in areas of lockdown to take the exam. The examination is scheduled to be held on July 23 and we don’t deem it proper to postpone the exam at this stage. However, we see force in submission that all safety measures have to be strictly followed. Authorities should not insist on Students taking vaccination”.
The Court has issued the direction in two pleas filed seeking postponement of the upcoming CLAT exam.
The plea by Advocate Kunal Chatterji also sought directions for devising an alternate and secure method of conducting the examination, or defer the exam till the COVID situation in the country normalises.