New
Delhi:
Authorities should not insist on students being vaccinated against COVID-19 to
take the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT)-2021 scheduled on July 23, the
Supreme Court said on Tuesday while making clear that it would not postpone the
examination at this stage.
The
Supreme Court directed the concerned authorities to take all measures to
protect the health of examiners at the examination centres.
CLAT
is a centralised national level entrance test for admissions to National Law
Universities (NLUs) in India. The Supreme Court passed the order on petitions
challenging the June 14 notification issued by the Consortium of National Law
Universities fixing date for CLAT-2021 for both undergraduate and postgraduate
programmes.
“The
examination is scheduled to be held on July 23, 2021. We do not deem it proper
to postpone the examination at this stage. However, we see force in the
submissions of the counsel for the petitioners that all safety measures have to
be strictly followed at the examination centres for the sake of the health of
the candidates in taking the examination,” a bench of Justices L N Rao and
Aniruddha Bose said.
“The
concerned authorities are directed to take all measures to protect the health
of the examiners at the examination centre. The authorities concerned should
not insist on the students being vaccinated to take the examination,” the bench
said in its order and disposed of the petitions.
The
Supreme Court noted in its order that according to the notification, it would
be a pen and paper examination conducted at several centres with all Covid-19
safety protocols being observed and candidates were advised to get themselves
vaccinated.
The
counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that it was impossible for the
candidates to get themselves vaccinated as most of the students are below 18
years of age. The counsel further said it might be difficult, at least for
those students residing in areas where there is lockdown, to travel to centres
to take the examination.
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