Entrance Tests Law School Centralised Common Entrance Test CET Bhopal Law Institute National University NLIU

Entrance Tests for Law School to be Centralised

Entrance Tests for Law School to be Centralised

LAW entrances for seven national universities are now going to be centralised. Come 2008, law school aspirants will have to answer a common entrance test (CET) for law universities at Bangalore, Bhopal, Raipur, Hyderabad Jodhpur, Gand-hinagar and Kolkata. Nearly 20,000 applicants are expected to take the CET for national law colleges next year.

"The decision to have a common examination comes after a Supreme Court directive gave the ministry of human resources development the mandate to set up a centralised exam last year / said Balraj Chauhan, director of the Bhopal Law Institute National University (NLIU). The move is a co-operative venture by all the seven law universities. There will be an operating committee of the vice-chancellors (VCs) that will oversee the examination processes.

"The committee comprising the VCs or directors of the national law universities met in June this year to decide on the new format for the examination. A draft MOU has now been drawn up and is under their consideration / Mr Chauhan added. The procedures for a common test was initiated in October 2006 and was supposed to start this year itself. "It took some time for the directors or VCs to work on the format. It most definitely will be held in 2008 as all parties have committed on paper / said RKS Gautam, registrar, Bhopal Law Institute National University

For the students this will be a boon as they no longer have to prepare for seven different examinations. Nor do they have to pay seven times over. The CET will be held by the universities on the basis of seniority—for example Bangalore will be the first, followed by Hyderabad and so on.

According to Ghanshyam Singh, professor of law & registrar, nalsar, Heydarabad: "As of now a student pays Rs 1,000-Rs 1,500 per application for a law school which will now be a one-time payment for the CET." Endorsing this view, VS Mani, director, Gujarat National Law University, says that a common examination is likely to streamline processes.

Half of the revenue generated by the CET will go to the law university that organises the examination and the remaining will be shared equally among the others. This onetime fee, however, has drawn reservations from National Law School of India University (NLSIU),Bangalore, which has now sent out a letter to all parties concerned saying that the loss would be around Rs 50-Rs 60 lakh.

"There will be a financial impact, but we have been assured that we will be compensated. So our commitment to be a part of this process continues," said an NLSIU official.

With salary packages soaring and foreign placements gaining prominence, legal education has been seeing a growing interest among students in the last few years. Today there are 100 applications for a seat as against 10-15 five years ago.

Email: sushmita.mohapatra@timesgroup.com

Doing Justice:

The conduct of entrance will be through a co-operative venture by all the seven law universities
For students this will be a boon as they no longer have to prepare and pay for seven different examinations
Half of the revenue generated by the CET will go to the law university that organizes the examination

Entrance Tests for Law School to be Centralised

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