It is no news to us now that CLAT 2012 has been marred by scores of controversies since the day students came back and said that most of the GK was out of syllabus. Students protesting online, heated Facebook discussions, planning to throng the NLU-Jodhpur campus, professors and groups planning to file PIL and much more. In the midst of all this noise, one person who had kept mum since the exam day is Justice NN Mathur, Vice Chancellor and Convener, NLU-Jodhpur. With students expecting him to talk, Surya Ragunaathan from Gyancentral spoke to Mr Mathur and the results were rather appaling. Excerpts:
Your reaction to the whole controversy regarding the CLAT 2012 paper. Students are angered a lot that static GK and static legal reasoning wasnt supposed to come in the paper and was out of syllabus.
There is no controversy. We have been getting more messages congratulating us for conducting such a flawless and smooth examination. I have been getting huge praises for the same from everyone.
Sir, but there are many students and professors who have been saying that the exam has been messed up. Is this some kind of mis-communication because your wesbite/brochure said legal GK, etc. wouldnt be asked?
There is no mess or mis-communication. According to me, there is no problem. I dont see why some students are disturbed. Highly eminent experts in the field have set the question paper. They know very well what they are doing. Legal reasoning is important. So they included. Paper was absolutely within syllabus. Nothing was out of syllabus. After setting the question paper, the experts have a system of moderation where they verify everything. And now we will move on to the assessment stage.
Then are you saying the student fraternity is over reacting or do you see some logic in the same?
I dont see any logic. Like I said there was no problem with the paper and I have been getting congratulatory messages. Yes, they are over reacting.
The students along with a few lawyers/professors plan to file a PIL against CLAT 2012. Your reaction.
Yes, sure. Please go ahead. We will certify it and take the required legal recourse.
Any chances of a re-exam sir?
No. None whatsoever. Why should there be one? There is no problem with this one.
Any message you want to give to the students and takers of CLAT 2012?
They have done their job. Now they need to wait for the results.