Successful CLAT candidate denied admission by GNLU Approaches Gujarat High Court which directs GNLU to keep one seat vacant

CLAT aspirant, Donnie Ashok, has filed a writ petition in the Gujarat High Court against GNLU for refusing him admission to the university on the ground that he did not clear the 10+2 exam in his first attempt.The High Court has now directed GNLU and the CLAT convenor to keep one seat vacant at GNLU until arguments are heard tomorrow..CLAT aspirant, Donnie Ashok, has filed a writ petition in the Gujarat High Court against the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar (GNLU) for refusing him admission to the university on the ground that he did not clear the 10+2 exam in his first attempt.The High Court has now directed GNLU and the CLAT convenor to keep one seat vacant at GNLU until arguments are heard tomorrow..The CLAT brochure for this year contained information to the effect that candidates passing class 12 on a second attempt were ineligible for admission to GNLU..The matter came up for hearing today before a single judge of the Gujarat High Court. Senior Counsel Mukul Sinha, appearing pro bono for Donnie, was briefed by Advocate R. R. Mankad. The Court, in its interim order, directed GNLU and CLAT convenor to keep one seat vacant..A team of lawyers from Delhi and Calcutta drafted the writ petition. The lawyers included Debesh Panda, Amrita Panda, Sannoy Das, Deepak Raju, P. P. Banerjee, Pushpa Menon, Pingal Khan, Deepto Roy and Rukmini Das. Students, alumni and faculty of GNLU have also helped Donnie with legal advice..Speaking to Bar & Bench, Advocate Deepak Raju, said, “I was shocked to see the manner in which GNLU acted. The college has been generally supportive of our initiatives. But this time, they were turning down a poor student on the flimsy ground that a brochure has the effect of amending Regulations passed under a statute. I was also shocked to find out that our legal challenges to the decision were being answered by a physics lecturer, not a qualified lawyer or law professor. The order comes as a relief. I am aware of the struggle that Donnie has had to go through to even gain a basic education. It is sheer motivation and superhuman effort that has helped Donnie secure his CLAT rank. It was unfortunate that the erroneous interpretation by GNLU, of their own regulations, put him through further hardships. I hope the issue gets finally adjudicated soon.”.Donnie Ashok, who hails from rural West Bengal had secured a seat in GNLU in CLAT 2012. According to the initial results uploaded on the CLAT website in the first allotment list, Donnie was allotted a seat in NUSRL, Ranchi, despite the fact that he had attained a rank to gain admission into GNLU. Subsequently the list was taken down, and in the new list, Donnie was allocated a seat in GNLU. However, the celebrations were short lived for Donnie after he was told that students who had not cleared the 10+2 exam in the first attempt were not eligible for admissions into GNLU..Donnie’s family was going through a grave financial crisis at the time Donnie was to write his class twelve board exams. In fact he was expelled from his school on the grounds of non-payment of fees. By the time the arrears were cleared and he was re-admitted, only 70 days were left for the board exams and Donnie was unable to clear them. After being forced to repeat a year, he managed to successfully clear the exam in his second attempt..It must be noted here that the provision of clearing the 10+2 boards in the first attempt does not feature in the GNLU Act, 2003 or the Regulations under the same. This condition appears only in the CLAT brochure. As such the statutory force of this provision, as an addition or amendment to the GNLU Act 2003 or the regulations under it, is questionable..Initially, Donnie wrote to the Director and other authorities at GNLU, but there was no favourable response. After several rounds of discussions with GNLU failed to yeild any result, Donnie was left with no alternative but to approach the Gujarat High Court through a writ petition..Speaking to Bar & Bench, Prof. Shamnad Basheer, Founder and Managing Trustee of IDIA said, “Prof Bimal Patel, the Vice Chancellor of GNLU and Dolly Jabbal, the Registrar have been incredibly supportive of the IDIA project. Unfortunately, both of them were travelling at this critical juncture. Had they been present, I doubt if it would have come to this, particularly since Donnie has gone through very harsh circumstances in life. He was expelled from school owing to non payment of fees. To earn his keep, he did odd jobs till we found him, paid his fees and put him back in school. Unfortunately, by the time he went back to school, he’d missed several of his classes and naturally flunked his 12th std exams. However, the very next year, he studied very hard and passed. And also came away with flying colours in the CLAT exam. Its rather inhuman and thoroughly arbitrary to now penalise him and deny him admission for having failed his class 12 exam once. Law schools are institutions that teach social justice and fairness to their students: they should take the lead and go the extra mile to support such causes. Donnie’s story is an extraordinary one of an underprivileged child who fought several odds to get to where he is now. We should all lend him a helping hand.”.Prof. Basheer added “My guess is that both Prof Patel and Dr Jabbal left too much in the hands of a certain physics professor called Thomas Mathew who was heading the committee dealing with admissions and who, despite our several representations could not appreciate the fact that this was plainly illegal and an arbitrary exercise of power.”.Donnie told Bar & Bench that, “I was crestfallen when I heard that GNLU would not admit me. Now I am relieved. I am looking forward to the final adjudication and have full faith that the courts will understand my plight. In any case, I am eager to leave the entire episode behind and commence my legal education like any other student. I am thankful to IDIA and all the lawyers who have helped me through this. One day, I hope to be a lawyer in a position to help a future Donnie”..The matter has been now posted to tomorrow for further arguments..Writ Petition Filed Before Gujarat High Court