Case No. 41 of 2014. Case: A Public Interest Law Initiative of Centre for Civil Society Vs Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) Committee. Competition Commision of India

Case NumberCase No. 41 of 2014
CounselFor Appellant: Sai Krishna Rajgopal, Prashant Narang and Ankur Sood, Advocates
JudgesM.L. Tayal, S.L. Bunker, Sudhir Mital and Augustine Peter, Members
IssueCompanies Act, 1956 - Section 617; Competition Act, 2002 - Sections 19(1)(a), 2(1), 2(h), 26(2), 4
Judgement DateAugust 19, 2014
CourtCompetition Commision of India

Order:

Order under Section of the Competition Act, 2002

  1. The present information has been filed under section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 ('the Act') by Justice-A Public Interest Law Initiative of Centre for Civil Society ('the Informant') against Common Law Admission Test Committee ('the Opposite Party'/CLAT Committee) alleging inter alia contravention of the provisions of section 4 of the Act.

  2. Facts, as gathered from the information, may be briefly noted:

    2.1. The Informant is stated to be a public interest legal advocacy initiative of Centre for Civil Society (CCS). It represents and assists individuals and groups across India to challenge violations of fundamental rights and the Rule of Law.

    2.2. The Opposite Party is a body constituted through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between 14 participating National Law Universities (NLUs) for conducting admission test, popularly known as CLAT for admission in premier NLUs across India to pursue legal studies at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. CLAT has been instrumental in setting up and administering quality legal education in India. The CLAT Committee was established through an MoU arrived at between the then participating NLUs upon the advice of the Supreme Court of India and with assistance from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and University Grants Commission. The first CLAT Core Committee consisting of Vice-Chancellors of the seven participating NLUs at that time decided that the test shall be conducted by rotation in the order of their establishment. Accordingly, the first CLAT was conducted in the year 2008 by the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar (GNLU) is the university in charge of conducting CLAT, 2014.

    2.3. Following 14 NLUs are currently participating in CLAT for providing admission to their 1,660 undergraduate and 490 postgraduate seats:

    i. National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore;

    ii. National Academy for Legal Studies and Research University (NALSAR) University of Law, Hyderabad;

    iii. The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata;

    iv. National Law Institute University (NLIU), Bhopal;

    v. National Law University (NLU), Jodhpur;

    vi. Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL), Patiala;

    vii. Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Raipur;

    viii. Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), Gandhinagar;

    ix. Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National...

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