Kerala High Court reserves verdict in challenge to CLAT clearance for NTPC Law Officer selection

A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday reserved its verdict in the appeal against a judgment of a single-judge who had struck down the condition mandating that applicants to the post of Assistant Law Officer at the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) should have cleared the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) [NTPC Ltd. v Aishwarya Mohan].A division bench of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Mohammed Nias CP heard the appeal by NTPC which raised the question of whether, after having secured an LLB degree from any recognised Indian university with 60 per cent marks as qualification, the eligibility can be restricted to candidates who have appeared for CLAT-2021 post-graduation programme and whether its score can be made the basis for selection..The order of the single judge, which was challenged, came in a petition moved by a postgraduate student who is currently pursuing her LL.M. at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). The University is not a part of the Consortium of National Law Universities, meaning that she never had to appear for CLAT-PG.A notification calling for applicants to the post of Assistant Law Officer was issued by the NTPC. The petitioner claimed that she has the notified qualification of 60 per cent marks in LL.B. and registration with the Bar Council.However, the selection process was confined to candidates who have appeared for CLAT PG 2021.The single-judge had held that the notification issued by NTPC was discriminatory and that the inclusion of CLAT clearance as a criterion did not have any rational nexus to the object sought to be achieved.However, rather than upsetting the whole selection process, the Court had deemed it fit to direct the NTPC to accept the petitioner's application and conduct a selection test or interview for testing her eligibility for appointment as Assistant Law Officer.On Monday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the appellant NTPC said that the additional criteria of qualifying CLAT was incorporated because it was found to be the most suitable method for assessing the skill set required of candidates. Moreover, he contended it is the prerogative of the employer to fix eligibility criteria and there is limited scope for judicial interference in such matters.He further pointed out that conducting a separate nationwide examination for recruitment to 10-15 vacancies would not be feasible..On the other hand, advocate Maitreyi S Hegde, appearing for the writ petitioner, argued that the CLAT clearance criteria thwarts the chances of a majority of aspirants out of the 1,721 law colleges in India, only 23 are members of the Consortium of National Law Universities. Therefore, imposition of said criterion amounts to indirect discrimination, she contended..The division bench prima facie concurred with the appellant NTPC and observed that in previous years, the NTPC recruitment was done in a similar fashion.The judgment will be delivered on July 16.