A writ petition has been moved by 3 CLAT Aspirants namely, SK. Wahida Shabnam, Munj Vipul Sudhir and Shivansh Tripathi, seeking relief from the Consortium of NLUs in regard to not allowing them to appear in the CLAT 2020 exam (scheduled on 28 September, 2020), with the reason of them being symptomatic of COVID-19 patients in isolation. Apart from the Consortium of NLUs, the petitioners have also made the Union of India and Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) the party in the petition. The Petitioners were student aspirants preparing for the CLAT 2020 UG/PG exams.
The Petitioners have relied upon the Statement of Procedure (SOP) issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, directing the mandatory preventive measures to be followed while conducting examinations to contain spread of COVID-19. They have further relied upon the assurances given by the Consortium of NLUs in the Admit Card for CLAT 2020 issued to the Petitioners as well as other candidates.
The SOP issued by the Health Ministry stated:
“The examination centre should have a designated isolation room for isolating any person who is found symptomatic at the time of screening of during examination, till such time medical advice be sought. A clear policy on allowing symptomatic candidates to undertake examination shall be delineated by the Examination Conducting Authorities in advance.”
The Admit Card issued for CLAT 2020 stated:
“those candidates whose body temperature exceeds 99.14 F or show any COVID-19 symptoms will be allocated to an Isolation Lab within the Test Centre from where they may take the Test safely.”
The Petitioners have alleged that in spite of the several assurances, the Consortium of NLUs have issued a notification of instructions on 23 September 2020 that are to be followed by the candidates appearing in CLAT 2020. The Petitioners alleged that the said instructions are in contradiction to the earlier assurances given to the candidates since it totally refuses the COVID-19 suspected or positive candidates from appearing in CLAT 2020, resulting in total disregard to the SOPs issued earlier by Health Ministry whereby they had promised to allow even the COVID-19 symptomatic candidates.
The Petitioners have also relied upon the order of the Supreme Court in Rakesh Kumar Aggarwalla & Anr. v. National Law School Of India University, Bengaluru & Ors. (dated: 28 September 2020) wherein they have directed the Consortium of NLUs to conduct the CLAT 2020 examination on 28 September 2020 taking all precautions and care for the health of the student after following the Statement of Procedure issued by the Health Ministry and Ministry of Human Resource and Development.
SC Allows a COVID-19 Infected CLAT Aspirant To Take Exam at an Isolation Centre [Read Order]
The Petitioners through this petition have prayed that the Consortium should be directed to conduct a supplementary CLAT 2020 exam for the Petitioners and other such COVID-19 symptomatic candidates. In the alternative it is prayed that the Consortium be directed to refund the application fees Rs. 4000/- to each of the Petitioners and pay a sum of Rs. 5,00,000/- to each of them towards damages for the loss of one year in career on account of negligence of the concerned authorities.
The petitioners have also relied upon the statement by the Vice-Chancellor of NLSIU Bangalore, Mr. Sudhir Krishnaswamy on 07 July 2020 which was reported by LiveLaw on 09 July 2020, where he has assured that:
The health and safety protocols that will be followed at the health centres will be of the ‘highest standard’. He has also informed that the Consortium has classified all centres into ‘general testing rooms’ and ‘isolation rooms’.
The Petition alleges that the act of Consortium of NLUs in not allowing the Petitioners to appear in the CLAT 2020 examination is arbitrary in nature and it clearly deprives the Petitioners of their fundamental right under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
The said petition is filed by Advocate on Record Shagufa Salim through Advocate Sumit Chander and Advocate Vinay Kumar. Furthermore, ought to mention the supporting hands in the drafting of this petition namely, Advocate S. Selvakumari, Advocate Gurdeep Chauhan and Advocate Parvesh Bansal.
The Petition will be updated shortly as soon as it gets listed before the Supreme Court.