The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2017 has recorded over 13 per cent increase in number of applications from the last year. The CLAT 2017 has already seen a record-breaking all-time high in the number of applicants. This year, for the first time in CLAT history, applicants did not have the option to register offline for the exam.
Vice-Chancellor of Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) Patna and this year’s CLAT Convenor Prof A Lakshminath was quoted as saying, “As of now, around 45,000 candidates have applied for CLAT UG programme and 6,000 for the PG programme.” Chanakya National Law University, Patna is conducting CLAT 2017 on May 14 in a total of 63 examination centres across India.
As many as 51,000 students have applied for this year’s edition of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT 2017). Last year, a total of 45,041 candidates had registered for the online national-level law entrance test. CLAT application process began on January 1 and was closed on March 31, 2017, with the payment of fees and application submission.
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The largest bump in CLAT aspirants so far came in 2015, when 20% more LLB aspirants than in 2014 registered for the exam. But, until this year, the total number of LLB aspirants had never touched 40,000 since CLAT came into existence in 2008.
Prof Lakshminath also said that the state-wise and gender-wise break-up of applicants will be declared soon. Last year, out of 45,037, four applicants belonged to the transgender community.
Further, he mentioned that the number of applications rose exponentially after the Supreme Court stayed the Bar Council of India’s (BCI’s) age limit rule in the first week of March 2017.
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In the light of the SC stay order, students who are above 20 years of age in case of General/ NRI/ NRI sponsored category and above 22 years of age in case of SC/ ST/ OBC/ SAP category as on July 1, 2017 were allowed to apply for the undergraduate programmes through CLAT 2017.
Last year, as many as 23,517 male applicants had submitted their CLAT application forms, and 21,520 female candidates and four from transgender category had submitted their applications.
The newest NLU – NLU Shimla has opted to stay out of CLAT this year and conduct its independent admissions, just like NLU Delhi the only other NLU outside CLAT.
Another NLU, Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur has been added to the fold this year, taking the total number of CLAT law schools to eighteen. Besides these, as many as twenty-seven law schools will consider CLAT scores for admission.
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CLAT is the qualifying exam for admission to LLB and LLM seats in 18 National Law Universities (NLUs), on a preferential allotment basis. Common Law Admission Test applicants are competing for 1,154 unreserved LLB seats and 389 unreserved LLM seats across the 18 participating NLUs this year.
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