Students claim NLAT paper leaked

BENGALURU: Students who wrote the National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT), conducted by National Law School of India University (NLSIU) , on Monday were in for a shocker when word spread that the paper for the entrance examination was leaked. The test was held on Monday to make up for the previous slot of the examination (September 12) which was marred by technical glitches.

Students claimed that the paper was leaked as questions made their way to social media platforms and emails during the course of the examination. The institute said the claims of the paper leak were “unfounded”.“The test paper was accessible to candidates only after they logged in to the platform. Therefore it appears that some candidates have copied the questions and circulated them on some messaging apps/ emails after logging in,” said a note by the institute.

“While this is a malpractice under the NLAT guidelines, it does not affect the integrity of the exam,” it added.Candidates who are identified for unusual behaviour while answering will be disqualified, it clarified.Students were also perturbed about the hasty announcement of the exam which commenced at 12.30pm. Another email made the rounds, asking candidates to send screenshots of the grievances faced during the examination, for details to be placed before the Supreme Court.

The institute, however, clarified that they were carefully scrutinising the digital records of the NLAT 2020 exam to accurately identify malpractice.The institute did not disclose the total number of students who attempted the exam on Monday. But it only said that 80 per cent of the students who sought an additional slot appeared for the examination. A hearing is scheduled for September 16, where students are likely to know the validity of the exam.  The institute, meanwhile, cannot declare results nor proceed with admissions.

High Court upholds GO on promoting students 
The Karnataka High Court upheld the State Govern-ment’s order on guidelines to promote intermediate semester students to the next semester for 2019-20, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. A division bench of Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Ravi V Hosmani dismissed a PIL, filed by S P Venkatesh of Basaveshw-aranagar, that challenged the government order dated July 10, 2020, on the grounds that it was unscientific. According to the order, students of interm-ediate semesters for 2019-20, both in undergraduate and postgraduate courses, should be promoted to the higher semester based on their grading comprising 50% marks on pattern of internal evaluation and 50% on the performance in the previous year.