Clat 2019: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

The most competitive law entrance exam is back to offline mode. What does it mean for law aspirants?...

- Sagarika Ranjan

Lessons from history suggest that when you are caught in the doldrums, take a step backwards, reflect and then move further. This is exactly what the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) fraternity seems to be following. The recent decision of making CLAT 2019 an offline test is one such step backwards. An act to buy some time to be able to strengthen the infrastructure for successful conducting of the test. Speaking on any other change that we can expect in the near future, Prof. Faizan Mustafa, Vice Chancellor, NALSAR and head of the newly formed National Law School Consortium, said, “Present technology is far ahead and as the security is also at par, writing exams in traditional way will be overcome by online tests.”

What went amiss in CLAT 2018?

Students sat glued to their seats while their eyes dug intently at the questions on their screens. Amidst the clicking of the mouse, the invigilators were busy maintaining the examination code when suddenly the hall went into absolute silence. Students were now staring at blank screens. There was a powercut! At a CLAT examination center in Bihar, there was no power back-up for this time-bound intensive exam, not even a quick response to this disaster, shared Radhika Aagarwal, a first-year law student who took CLAT-2018.