Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHANAT JAIPUR BENCH, JAIPUR S. B. CIVIL WRIT PETITION (M) NO. ................... / 2018 1. Aeshita Singh D/o Hoshiyar SIngh, Age-19 years, R/o B-372, Mahal Yojana, Jagatpura, Jaipur, Rajasthan 2. Kriti Agarwal D/o Vijendra Agarwal, Age-18 years, R/o D- 131, Near Jain Mandir, Ambabadi, Jaipur, Rajasthan 3. Kanu Priya Tiwari D/o Kailash Tiwari, Age-18 years, R/o C- 131, Sanjay Colony Bhilwara, Rajasthan 4. Rachit Sharma, S/o Arvind Sharma, Age-19 years, R/o F-204, Vaishali Nagar, Jaipur, Rajasthan 5. Nikhil Aman, S/o Vinod Aman, Age-18 years, R/o 1-B, Lajpat Nagar, Khatipura Road, Jhotwara, Jaipur, Rajasthan 6. Diksha Chaudhary D/o Vishal Chaudhary, Age-19 years, R/o 55/147, Rajat Path, Mansarovar, Jaipur, Rajasthan 7. Robin Rathi, S/o Navin Rathi, Age-19 years,R/o Ward No. 10, Gandhi Chowk, Ellenabad, Sirsa, Haryana. 8. Kamal Jamal Puriya, S/o P.P. Jamal Puriya, Age-18 years, R/o Dalmiya ki Dhani, Tehsil Chirawa, District- Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. 9. Sakshi Mehta, D/o Dilip Singh Mehta, Age-19 years, R/o 1, Jeevan Sakshi, Sisarma Road, Udaipur, Rajasthan 10. Akash Meena, S/o Amar Chand Meena, Age-20 years, R/o Foji Raj Hotel, Village Roopwas, District-Alwar, Rajasthan 11. Siddhi Jain, D/o Vijay Chhabra, Age-18 years, R/o 70/5, Patel Marg, Mansarovar, Jaipur, Rajasthan. 12. Divya Surana, D/o Prakash Surana, Age-19 years, R/o 7, Gandhi Nagar, Near Ganesh Temple, Bhilwara, Rajasthan. 13. Yashoda Mandowara D/o Ratan Lal, Age- 18 years, R/o A- 445,Vijay Singh Pathik Nagar, Bhilwara, Rajasthan. 14. Harshit Darak S/o Radheyshyam Darak, Age-18 years, R/o Village Tarnau, Nagaur, Rajasthan. Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) 15. Abhishek Sharma, S/o Pankaj Sharma, Age-18 years, R/o 588, Surya Nagar, Gopalpura Byepass, Jaipur, Rajasthan. 16. Avisha Agarwal D/o Sunil Agarwal, Age-19 years, R/o 31/6, Manikya Nagar, Bhilwara, Rajasthan. ………..Petitioners/ Defendants Vs 1. CLAT 2018- Working Committee Through its Convenor, Prof. (Dr.) Rose Varghese National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), Medical College - NAD Rd, HMT Colony, North Kalamassery, Kalamassery, Kochi, Kerala 683503 …Respondent No. 1 2. CLAT 2018 - Implementation Committee Through its Chairman, Prof. (Dr.) Rose Varghese National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), Medical College - NAD Rd, HMT Colony, North Kalamassery, Kalamassery, Kochi, Kerala 683503 …Respondent No. 2 3. The National University of Advanced Legal Studies Through its Vice Chancellor, Medical College - NAD Rd, HMT Colony, North Kalamassery, Kalamassery, Kochi, Kerala 683503 …Respondent No. 3 ………….Respondents S.B CIVIL WRIT PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 226 AND 227 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA HIGHLIGHTING WIDESPREAD DISCREPANCIES AND MALPRACTICES FACED BY PETITIONERS IN CONDUCTION OF COMMON LAW ADMISSION TEST (CLAT)-2018 AND SEEKING AN ENQUIRY INTO AFFAIRS OF CLAT 2018 AND SEEKING RE EXAMINATION OF CLAT 2018. AND Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) IN THE MATTER OF VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 14, 19 AND 21 OF CONSITUTION AND FAILURE OF DUTY CAST UPON RESPONDENTS TO CONDUCT CLAT 2018 EXAMINATION IN A FREE, FAIR AND EFFICIENT MANNER. TO, HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND HIS OTHER COMPANION JUDGES OF THE RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT, JAIPUR BENCH AT JAIPUR. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIPS: THE PETITIONERS HUMBLY SUBMIT AS UNDER: 1. That the Petitioners are citizens of India and therefore entitled to invoke the extraordinary writ jurisdiction of this Hon'ble Court under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India. 2. That every year, more than 50,000 students write the prestigious Common Law Admission Test, 2018 across various centres, for the purpose of securing admission to the top national law universities of this country. 3. That CLAT was first conducted in the year 2008, and since then its popularity, and interest of students for securing admission to integrated 5 year law courses and LLM Courses in increasing. 4. That each year, every other national law university, in order of their year of establishment, conducts CLAT 2018, and this Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) year the task was entrusted to Respondent No. 3, i.e. National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi. 5. That it was therefore, looking to the repute of the examination and considering the number of students, who write it each year, incumbent upon the organizing university of CLAT, 2018, Respondent No.3, to make sure the exam is organized in the most efficient and hassle free manner. 6. That Petitioners no. 1 to 16 prepared for CLAT 2018 for one whole year and thereafter submitted their application form, after which they were given their admit card. True Copy of Admit Cards of Petitioner No 1 to 16 is annexed herewith and marked as ANNEXURE-1(Colly) (pg to ) 7. That it is pertinent to mention here that on the admit card of students, online test instructions are specifically mentioned. One of instructions is as under: "17-In the event of the examination being disrupted for technical reasons, the candidate should immediately inform the invigilator. The timer would automatically stop and the invigilator will help the candidate to re-login the examination. This will start the examination timer from where it had stopped." Copy of online test instruction issued by Respondents is annexed with and marked as ANNEXURE-2 (pg to ) 8. That it is most respectfully submitted before this Hon'ble Court that CLAT 2018, was conducted across various cities on 13.05.2018 in the most mismanaged, unorganized and inefficient manner, due to the present petitioners have Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) suffered irreparable loss affecting their career and future prospects severely. 9. That further, the exam was conducted online with a lot of technical errors resulting in loss of precious time of applicant petitioners which has hampered their scores in the examination. 10. That Petitioner No. 1, Ms. Aeshita Singh appeared for the exam at Vivekanand Institute of Technology, Jaipur on the said day after preparing for one whole year fully for the exam hoping to do her best but she witnesses the following irregularities during the said exam because of which she was not able to attempt the paper in a smooth manner: Once the exam started she lost around 11 minutes due to questions not appearing on screen, when she bought this to invigilator's attention, he himself was so clueless and untrained and he told her that she won't get extra time, due to which many candidates including got shocked. Throughout the paper, the screen kept freezing and mouse didn't work properly and she had to click on a single tab at least 10 times for it to respond. The pen which they had provided her for was of sub standard quality and she had to ask for a new pen 4 times. The questions were encrypted and on pressing "Next Question" tab more than one question got skipped sometimes and navigation was difficult due to multiple tabs. Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) 11. That it is also submitted that environment of the examination was not conducive at all and there was shouting and chaos everywhere. Some students were shifted as many as 4 times during the course of paper. It is further submitted that the students were also discussing answers and invigilators were always busy with setting some candidates screen right. 12. That it is respectfully submitted that another student Petitioner No.3 Ms. Kanupriya Tiwardi and Petitioner No. 14 Mr. Harshit Darak whose examination center was also Vivekananda Institute of Technology, Jaipur faced similar issues. Petitioner No.3 had reported that the invigilators instead of helping them out were mocking them and shouting at them which resulted in total chaos in the examination hall because of which some of the students were able to cheat and discuss questions among themselves affecting the sanctity and decorum of examination of such a national level. 13. That it is further submitted that another student Petitioner No. 4 Mr. Rachit Sharma has suffered issues such as the mouse of the computer didn't work properly, the paper was full of technical glitches and went blank for almost 5 minutes and the invigilators didn't add back the time. Even the computer system couldn't handle the new interface which was glitch ridden and my test kept stopping after every 15 minutes. 14. That Petitioner No. 2 Ms. Kriti Agrawal and Petitioner No. 11 Ms. Siddhi Jain who wrote their exams at the Radhakrishnan Institute of Technology, Jaipur also complain that they were not provided the mouse despite asking for it at least 8 to 10 times and there were such questions for which they had Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) marked correctly but the answer key displays something else due to which She lost a total of 6 to 7 marks unnecessarily. 15. That Petitioner No. 12 Ms. Divya Surana who wrote the exam at the same center had informed that the students were allowed to discuss the questions among themselves as invigilators were not focusing on examination instead were found escaping from their duties. 16. That Petitioner No. 5 Mr. Nikhil Aman and Petitioner No. 13 Ms. Yashi Maheshwari who wrote their examination at Arya Institute of Technology have complained and submit that their computers did not start on time and it only started after 15 minutes and 30 minutes respectively which time was not given to them later on and he missed those 15 and 30 minutes completing the paper only in the rest of time. They were made to change their computers 3 to 4 times.