In Brief
National Law School of India University issued a separate admission notification (dated 03.09.2020) proposing its own entrance test (NLAT) instead of the common CLAT examination. This writ petition sought to quash the notification. The Supreme Court held that NLSIU's separate entrance test was unlawful on three grounds: (1) the notification was issued without the mandatory prior recommendation of the Academic Council as required by statute; (2) NLSIU, being a member of the Consortium of National Law Universities bound by its bye-laws, was obliged to use CLAT for admissions and the doctrine of necessity did not apply; and (3) the home-based online proctored examination lacked transparency and fairness, and excluded many students due to short notice and technical requirements, violating Article 14 rights. The Court quashed the admission notification, directed CLAT to proceed on 28.09.2020, and ordered NLSIU to complete admissions based on CLAT results.
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