HC upholds CET for law colleges in Maharashtra

The Bombay High Court today dismissed a petition challenging the Maharashtra Law CET, a common entrance test held last month for admission to law colleges.
A division bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi observed that though the "manner in which the state government conducted the exam left much to be desired", the exam itself was not illegal and the state has the power to conduct a CET even for the private law colleges.
The CET for law colleges was introduced this year and was held on June 18 and 19.
Shalini Kotian, an aspiring law student, had filed the petition challenging the CET saying the state had no power to conduct such an exam.

Her lawyer Pradnya Talekar argued that the government did not give adequate time to students for preparation and the process of determining the syllabus for the test and the list of examiners was not transparent.
Government lawyer said the CET was introduced through a notification under Maharashtra Universities Act and extended to both government and private colleges through an "executive order".

The HC held that the state was right in "invoking its executive powers" in this way.
"The court would have been happier had the state notified the students about the exam pattern, syllabus etc., well in advance," it noted, but added that "merely because the exam was not conducted in a manner suggested by the petitioner", the court cannot declare the entire process as invalid.

Government should have consulted the Bar Council of India before finalising syllabus, etc., it opined. The government lawyer said that henceforth it will consult the Council.