Compulsory CLAT clearance for NTPC Law Officer thwarts career prospects of non-NLU grads; prima facie discriminatory: Kerala High Court

The compulsory condition for applicants to clear the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) to be eligible for the post of Assistant Law Officer at the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) is prima facie discriminatory, the Kerala High Court observed on Wednesday [Aishwarya Mohan v Union of India & Ors].Justice VG Arun opined that there appears to be no rational nexus in imposing such a condition as a pre-requisite for accepting applications of candidates."I am of the prima facie opinion that the condition is discriminatory. The ancillary question is whether persons having requisite qualifications can be compelled to appear for the CLAT Post Graduation Programme as a condition precedent for accepting their applications. Even if the CLAT exam conducted by the Consortium of National Law Universities is capable of selecting the brightest students, that is no justification for thwarting the career prospects of law graduates like the petitioner," the Court said in its interim order..The Court was considering the question of whether, after having prescribed an LLB degree from any recognised Indian university with 60 per cent marks as qualification, the eligibility criteria can be restricted to candidates who have appeared for CLAT-2021 Post Graduation Programme and whether its score made the basis for selection.The order came on a petition moved by a post graduate student who is currently pursuing her LLM at the Cochin University of science and Technology. The University is not a part of the consortium of National Law Universities which means that she never had to appear for CLAT-PG.A notification calling for applicants to the post of Assistant Law Officer at was issued by the NTPC. The petitioner claims to have the notified qualification of 60 per cent marks in LLB and registration with the Bar Council. However, the selection process is confined to candidates who have appeared for CLAT PG 2021, which prompted the petitioner to approach the Court..Advocate Maitreyi Sachdananda Hege, appearing for the petitioner, argued that being a public sector undertaking falling within the definition of Article 12 of the Constitution, the NTPC cannot shut out the chances of persons like the petitioner, merely for the reason that she is pursuing her Post Graduation programme in a University that is not part of the consortium of National Law Universities. It was argued that there is no nexus between the objective sought to be achieved by imposing such a condition, since the CLAT is meant for assessing academic brilliance of students, whereas the NTPC is seeking to select the best among legal professionals. Reliance was placed on the decision of the Supreme Court in Lt. Col. Nitisha and others v. Union of India and others to contend that the imposition of such restrictive condition amounts to indirect discrimination..Assistant Solicitor General of India S Manu countered the arguments stating that fixing the eligibility criteria for appointment to a particular post is the absolute prerogative of the employer. As CLAT is a national-level examination for filtering and selecting the brightest students, various other PSUs are following the same process to recruit the highest standard of law graduates, he argued. .The Court directed the relevant authorities to accept the application to be submitted by the petitioner, subject to the final outcome of this case. .[Read Order]