CLAT PG exam: On plea against ‘exorbitant counselling fee', Delhi HC seeks response from NLU, BCI, UGC
The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response from a consortium of National Law Universities (NLU), the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) on a petition moved by an aspirant challenging the 'exorbitant' counselling fees being charged for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) PG exams.
'This is the only examination in the whole country where such a high fee is taken…hundreds are not able to participate,' Advocate Siddharth R Gupta, appearing for the petitioner, Jatin Shrivastava, who scored 474th rank in the CLAT PG exams, told the court.
'I'm praying for interim relief…please let me participate without paying the fees. I've already paid 30,000 refundable fees. I'm being charged 20,000 per round,' Gupta said.
'The process is going on, second counselling is going on. How can I disturb the whole system for one candidate?' asked Justice Rajneesh Kumar Gupta while issuing notice to the consortium.
'For freezing the seat, Rs 20,000 will have to be paid again…I can't fill the form without this payment,' said Advocate Gupta on the petitioner's behalf. When asked by the judge about the next CLAT PG counselling date, Advocate Gupta responded that it was scheduled for July 4.
After hearing the response, Justice Gupta posted the matter for hearing on July 2 — two days before the third round of counselling and further directed the consortium to file a reply to the aspirant's plea. An interim order in favour of the aspirant was not passed by Justice Gupta.
In the plea moved by Srivastava, examples of the counselling fees for 15 exams were attached. It was also argued in the petition that charging a high fee was discriminatory towards those who didn't have the means to pay.
A similar petition has been filed before the Kerala HC against the 'exorbitant fees' charged during counselling. This plea is likely to be heard later in July.
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