CLAT age limit changed by BCI for LLB Course

CLAT Age Limit Changed

As per the latest information, Bar Council of India (BCI) has increased the upper age limit for for 5/3 year LLB programmes. As an interim measure, BCI has increased the upper age limit for three year LLB course from 30 year to 45 years and the age limit for five year LLB courses has been increased from 20 years to 22 years. As per sources BCI took this decision in in a General Body Meeting.

Earlier, BCI had created a lot of confusion when it re-introduced upper age eligibility criteria for CLAT 2017.

The age limit for CLAT 2017 had been fixed at 20 years. CLAT core committee had shared that age restrictions for the law entrance exam will be introduced from the coming academic session itself. As per this eligibility criteria no aspirant above the age of 20 years would be allowed to appear for Common Law Admission Test (CLAT).

Age limit criteria in CLAT exam was introduced because Bar Council of India (BCI), which is the apex body for legal education in India, issued a notification on September 19, 2016 asking all varsities to include upper age limit for law programmes offered by them. Thus, as per Clause 28 of Schedule III of the Legal Education Rules 2008, the upper age limit for LLB 5 years course was fixed at 20 years and the age limit for LLB 3 years programme was 30 years.

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Till last year there was no age limit mentioned in CLAT eligibility criteria. However, earlier the official notification released by CLAT Core Committee Convener, Prof. A Lakshminath regarding the stated:

"It is hereby clarified that in conformity with the judgement of the Honourable Supreme Court and the resolution No. BCI:D:1519(LE:Cir.)-6 dated September 17, 2016 of the Bar Council of India the Core Committee CLAT 2017 has restored the upper age limit for CLAT 2017 as follows:

The candidates to be eligible to appear in CLAT 2017:

• Should be below 20 years of age as on July 1, 2017 for candidates belonging to unreserved categories
• Should be below 22 years of age as on July 1, 2017 for candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC/Specially Abled Persons (SAP/PwD) categories

No representations in this regard shall be entertained by CLAT 2017".

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Earlier, keeping BCI's recommendation in mind, CLAT core committee proposed inclusion of age limit in a meeting held at Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), Patna. This meeting was presided over by Dr A Lakshminath, Vice Chancellor of CNLU and Chairman of CLAT core committee and was attended by Vice-Chancellors of 12 National Law Universities (NLUs).

Further, the core committee also discussed that CLAT counselling process should be conducted in three rounds instead of the existing four rounds.

Also, the total number of NLUs has been increased to 18 with the inclusion of Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), Nagpur wherein admission will be conducted on the basis of CLAT exam scores/ranks.