The following updates were released by the CLAT Consortium for CLAT 2020.
CLAT 2020 will be held on 10th May 2020.
Eligibility for CLAT UG
- There will be no upper age limit for UG Programme in CLAT 2020.
- As regards the minimum percentage of marks in the qualifying examination (i.e., 10+2 or an equivalent examination), the candidates must have secured:
- Forty-five percent (45%) marks or its equivalent grade in case of candidates belonging to General / OBC / PWD / NRI / PIO / OCI categories
- Forty Percent (40%) marks or equivalent in case of candidates belonging to SC/ST categories.
- Candidates who are appearing in the qualifying examination in March/April, 2020 are also eligible to appear in CLAT 2020 examination. However, they shall be required to produce evidence of their passing the qualifying examination at the time of admission, failing which they shall lose their right to be considered for admission.
- The result of the qualifying examination (i.e., 10+2) shall be submitted by the candidate at the time of admission failing which the candidate shall be ineligible for admission to the Course.
- In case of equal marks, the break of tie shall be by the following procedure and order as under:
- Higher marks in the component/section on legal aptitude in the CLAT 2020 exam;
- Higher age;
- Computerised draw of lots.
Eligibility for CLAT PG
- An LL.B Degree or an equivalent examination with a minimum of Fifty percent (50%) of marks or its equivalent grade in case of candidates belonging to General/OBC/PWD/NRI/PIO/OCI categories and Forty-Five percent (45%) of marks or its equivalent grade in case of candidates belonging to SC/ST categories.
- Candidates appearing in the qualifying examination in April/May 2020 are also eligible to apply.
- No upper age limit is prescribed for appearing in CLAT 2020.
Official Syllabus CLAT UG 2020
The UG-CLAT 2020 would focus on evaluating the comprehension and reasoning skills and abilities of candidates. Overall, it is designed to be a test of aptitude and skills that are necessary for a legal education rather than prior knowledge, though prior knowledge occasionally may be useful to respond to questions in the Current Affairs section.
The UG-CLAT 2020 shall be a 2-hour test, with 150 multiple-choice questions carrying 1 mark each. There shall be negative marking of 0.25 marks for every wrong answer. These questions would be divided across the following 5 subjects:
- English Language
- Current Affairs, including General Knowledge
- Legal Reasoning
- Logical Reasoning
- Quantitative Techniques
English Language
In this section of the UG-CLAT 2020, you will be provided passages of about 450 words each. These passages will be derived from contemporary or historically significant fiction and non-fiction writing, and would be of a standard that a 12th standard student may be able to read in about 5-7 minutes.
Each passage will be followed by a series of questions that will require you to demonstrate your comprehension and language skills, including your abilities to:
- Read and comprehend the main point discussed in the passage, as well as any arguments and viewpoints discussed or set out in the passage;
- Draw inferences and conclusions based on the passage;
- Summarise the passage;
- Compare and contrast the different arguments or viewpoints set out in the passage; and
- Understand the meaning of various words and phrases used in the passage.
Current Affairs Including General Knowledge
In this section, you will be provided passages of up to 450 words each. The passages will be derived from news, journalistic sources and other non-fiction writing. The questions may include an examination of legal information or knowledge discussed in or related to the passage, but would not require any additional knowledge of the law beyond the passage.
Each passage will be followed by a series of questions that will require you to demonstrate your awareness of various aspects of current affairs and general knowledge, including:
- Contemporary events of significance from India and the world;
- Arts and culture;
- International affairs; and
- Historical events of continuing significance.
Legal Reasoning
In this section, you will be expected to read passages of around 450 words each. The passages may relate to fact situations or scenarios involving legal matters, public policy questions or moral philosophical enquiries. You will not require any prior knowledge of law. You will benefit from a general awareness of contemporary legal and moral issues to better apply general principles or propositions to the given fact scenarios.
Each passage would be followed by a series of questions that will require you to:
- Identify and infer the rules and principles set out in the passage;
- Apply such rules and principles to various fact situations; and
- Understand how changes to the rules or principles may alter their application to various fact situations.
Logical Reasoning
The Logical Reasoning section of the UG-CLAT 2020 will include a series of short passages of about 300 words each. Each passage will be followed by one or more questions that will require you to:
- Recognize an argument, its premises and conclusions;
- Read and identify the arguments set out in the passage;
- Critically analyse patterns of reasoning, and assess how conclusions may depend on particular premises or evidence;
- Infer what follows from the passage and apply these inferences to new situations;
- Draw relationships and analogies, identify contradictions and equivalence and assess the effectiveness of arguments.
Quantitative Techniques
The Quantitative Techniques section of the UG-CLAT 2020 will include short sets of facts or propositions, graphs, or other textual, pictorial or diagrammatic representations of numerical information, followed by a series of questions. You will be required to derive information from such passages, graphs, or other representations, and apply mathematical operations on such information.
The questions will require you to:
- Derive, infer, and manipulate numerical information set out in such passages, graphs, or other representations; and
- Apply various 10th standard mathematical operations on such information, including from areas such as ratios and proportions, basic algebra, mensuration and statistical estimation.
Official Syllabus for CLAT PG 2020
The PG-CLAT 2020 will feature an emphasis on the comprehension abilities of the students. It shall be of 120 minutes duration, with two sections:
- The first section would include 100 objective-type questions carrying 1 mark each. There shall be a negative marking of 0.25 marks for every wrong answer.
- The second section would require candidates to write 2 descriptive essays.
- Candidates who secure 40% (35% in case of SC, ST, and PWD) marks in the objective section will qualify for the evaluation of their answers in the descriptive section.
The paper will be based on areas such as Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Contract Law, Torts, International Law, Intellectual Property, Jurisprudence and important judgments from the recent past.
Objective Section
In this section of the PG-CLAT 2020, you will be provided extracts from primary legal materials such as important court decisions in various fields of law, statutes or regulations. Each passage will be followed by a series of questions that will require you to demonstrate the:
- Ability to read and comprehend the issues discussed in the passage, as well as any arguments and viewpoints discussed or set out in the passage;
- Awareness of the issues discussed in the passage, as well as of legal issues and facts related to and arising out of the passage and the judgment or statute from which it is extracted;
- Summarise the passage; and
- Ability to apply your knowledge of the fields of law discussed in the passage.
Descriptive Section
In this section of the PG-CLAT 2020, you will be required to write essays answering Any 2 questions from amongst the list of questions supplied. Your answers must not exceed 800 words each, and you will be required to demonstrate the following in your response:
- Awareness of the legal, factual, and philosophical issues arising out of the questions you choose to answer;
- Ability to structure your answer, and clearly set out various arguments and perspectives related to the topic set out in the questions and to draw a conclusion based on the above.
Documents to be uploaded with the Online Application
- Front facing passport size recent photograph with plain background
- Signature of the candidate
- Category certificate if you are applying under SC/ST/OBC
- Relevant certificate issued by competent authority if you are applying if candidate is P.W.D
- Relevant certificate issued by competent authority if you are coming under BPL category
NOTE
- The original certificates/documents issued by the competent authority as specified in the brochure are to be submitted to the allotted University in the form and manner as specified by the respective universities at the time of admission.
- The photograph and signature of the candidate need not be attested while submitting the Online Application Form.
- All documents/certificates should be uploaded in pdf format only.
Application Fee
- Application fees can be paid only online.
- Application fee for General/OBC/PWD/NRI/PIO/OCI candidates: Rs.4,000/-
- Application fee for SC/ST/BPL category candidates: Rs.3,500/-
- The cost of previous years’ question papers is Rs.500/- (not included in the CLAT 2020 application fee of Rs.4,000/- or Rs.3,500/- as the case may be.)
- The candidates themselves will have to bear the bank transaction charges for remitting the fee online. The actual bank transaction charges will be displayed in the payment gateway page after you choose the mode of payment.
- Application Fees is non-refundable
Important Instructions
- The online enrollment for CLAT 2020 will open on 1st January 2020 and close on 31st March 2020.
- The applications has to be submitted ONLINE only from official website.
- The CLAT 2020 examination will be held in the month of May 2020
- The CLAT 2020 examination will be held in OFFLINE mode
- The candidates are first required to register themselves at the CLAT 2020 website by using personal mobile number and e-mail Id. Upon registration, an OTP will be sent to the given mobile number for validation. Once your mobile number is validated, you can login using your mobile number and the password you provided at the time of registration.
- Please fill the form carefully. The Name of the candidate and the parents should be spelt correctly in the application as it appears in the Certificates/Mark sheets/Identity proof. Any change/alteration found may disqualify your candidature.
- No alteration/editing in the online application form can be done after successful submission/final submission of the form. The information once furnished by the candidate with regard to the category to which the candidate belongs, the preference for the NLUs and the Centre of the Entrance Test submitted by the candidates through online application mode shall be final and no change whatsoever shall be allowed thereafter under any circumstances.
- The candidates are required to read the instructions carefully and furnish correct and authentic information. In case the information furnished at any stage of the application, examination and admission process is found to be false or incorrect or if there is any discrepancy or mismatch between the information furnished by the candidate at the relevant section and the certificates/documents produced at the time of admission, the provisional admission offered to the candidate shall stand cancelled with immediate effect without assigning any further reason and the candidate shall stand disqualified from being considered for further admission to the NLUs by the CLAT Consortium Office.
- The candidate shall fill his/her preference order for all 22 NLUs at the time of online application itself. No change shall be allowed in the preference once the form is submitted by the candidate.