BCI backs plea for conducting CLAT 2024 exam in Indian languages

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has expressed its endorsement for the incorporation of regional languages in the administration of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) for 2024. This move, the apex regulatory body for the legal profession in India explained, would expand the scope for a wider segment of the population to participate in the exam and subsequently pursue a career in law.

The council’s stance was outlined in an affidavit submitted to the Delhi High Court, in response to a Public Interest Litigation that sought to extend the CLAT 2024 exam beyond English to include various regional languages. The BCI further affirmed its support for the concerns raised by the petitioner, Sudhanshu Pathak, who is a law student at the University of Delhi.

The petitioner, stated CLAT (UG) exam “discriminates” and fails to provide a “level playing field” to students whose educational backgrounds are rooted in regional languages.

In response to the above, an affidavit by the body said, “BCI supports the issue raised by the petitioner for conducting the CLAT exam in languages other than English as the same will give opportunities to more citizens to appear in the exam and pursue law as a career.”

The CLAT, which is organised by the Consortium of National Law Universities, is conducted in English and CLAT-2024 is scheduled to take place in December 2023.