7 hours ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
CLAT PG aspirant moves Delhi HC against ‘arbitrary' counselling fees
NEW DELHI: A candidate who appeared for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) PG has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the high counselling fees levied by the Consortium of National Law Universities, calling them arbitrary and unaffordable for many aspirants.
The petition, filed by Jatin Shrivastava, who secured the 474th rank in the entrance exam, argues that the mandatory counselling fee of Rs 30,000, along with additional charges for freezing or confirming seats, is unjust and disproportionate. The matter was mentioned on Friday before the vacation bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta, who have listed it for hearing on June 23.
According to Shrivastava's plea, the Consortium demands Rs 20,000 as confirmation fees for every round of counselling, which must be paid afresh each time a candidate chooses to freeze their allotted seat. The petition contends this practice lacks justification, particularly as the financial capacity of students is not assessed before levying such charges.
'That Clause 2 - 'Admissions Counselling process', vide Clause 2.1 titled as 'freeze option' of which, whenever any candidate participant intends to apply for 'freeze option', he is required to deposit a 'non-refundable confirmation fees' of Rs 20,000/- at the time of opting for freezing of any seat,' the plea read.
