Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) PG is a national level entrance examination conducted by the Consortium of 22 National Law Universities (NLUs) once a year to take admissions in one-year LLM courses offered by the participating universities. The exam is conducted on a rotational basis by a different NLU every year.
Also some of the major Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) also recruit law graduates through CLAT PG examination score for roles like Trainee Legal Advisor, Legal Executive Trainee, Assistant Legal Advisor, etc.
Some of the PSUs which recruit law graduates through CLAT PG scores are – Power Grid Corporation of India Limited[1], Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)[2], Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Oil India Limited (OIL).
Read through this article to get the complete information about the CLAT PG examination pattern.
CLAT PG Eligibility Criteria-
- Candidate must have completed his/her graduation in Law with minimum 50% marks for candidates belonging to General/OBC/PWD/NRI/PIO/OCI category and in case candidate belongs to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe then graduation in Law with minimum 45% marks.
- Candidates in their final year of law graduation can also apply.
- There is NO bar as to the age limit.
PSU Recruitment through CLAT Eligibility Criteria-
- Candidate must have completed his/her graduation in Law.
- Different PSUs may have their own eligibility criteria that the candidate has to fulfill.
- Candidates who have passed the CLAT PG exam in previous years may not be considered for selection.
CLAT PG Examination Syllabus
The CLAT PG syllabus primarily includes some of the major areas of study in the undergraduate course such as Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Administrative Law, Law of Contract, Torts, Family Law, Criminal Law, Property Law, Company Law, Public International Law, Tax Law, Environmental Law, and Labor & Industrial Law.
CLAT PG Seats –
- Total number of CLAT PG seats is 632. The seat division is as follows:
- All India seats – 518;
- State Category seats -75; and
- Special Category seats – 39.
- Apart from participating NLUs, more than 60 law colleges and universities across the country offer admissions on the basis of CLAT scores. Colleges and universities which take admissions on the basis of CLAT score other than NLUs can be checked here[3].
CLAT PG Application Process –
- Application process generally starts from the 1st week of January every year.
- Candidates can fill the application form on the official portal online mode.
- Complete the application form by filling in personal and qualification details.
- Upload passport size photograph and signature in the prescribed format.
- Application fees for CLAT PG is
- Rs. 4,000 (General/OBC/PWD/NRI/PIO/OCI candidates)
- Rs. 3,500 (SC/ST/BPL category candidates
- The cost of availing previous years’ question papers is Rs.500/- which is to be paid separately and is optional.
CLAT PG Examination Pattern-
The CLAT PG pattern has undergone major changes after 2019 and since then subjective type questions have been removed from the CLAT PG paper. Now CLAT PG examination consists only of objective type questions.
As per the latest notification released by the consortium, the syllabus for CLAT PG is as follows –
- The paper will be conducted via Pen and Paper mode.
- The paper will consist of 120 objective type questions only.
- 01 marks will be given for every right answer and 0.25 marks will be deducted for each wrong answer. No marks will be deducted for any question which is not attempted.
- Questions are asked in a way where extracts from primary legal materials such as important court decisions in various fields of law, statutes or regulations are provided followed by questions based on the
- concept, latest developments pertaining to the extract provided;
- awareness of the issues discussed in the extract,
- as well as of legal issues and facts related to and arising out of the extract.
- Total time duration of the paper is 2 hours.
- After the examination, the answer key is released by the consortium and objections are invited by the candidates, if any.
- The result is generally announced within a weeks’ time after taking into consideration the objection raised with respect to answers in the official answer key released by the consortium
- Once the results are announced, the allotment of seats is done on the basis of the candidate’s rank, in order of preference of college, category, and number of seats. Admission will be completed by the centralized online counselling conducted by the CLAT Office. The candidate needs to submit the counselling fee of Rs. 50,000 for taking participation in counselling. This mentioned fee detail is based as per the data from last year. Within the time duration the candidate has to lock the institute by visiting the Institute and by performing the requisite fee payment. Once the candidate secures admission, he/she can apply for upgradation depending on the vacancy of seats.
CLAT PG Past Year Analysis-
- To get a clearer picture, let us do a brief analysis of CLAT PG Paper 2021[4].
- The paper consisted of 20 legal passages, each containing 6 questions. (20 x 6 = 120 questions).
- Around 30 questions were asked directly from the recent and landmark judgements of the Apex court.
- Broad classification of questions asked from different subjects is-
| Subject | Questions |
| Constitution | 35 |
| Contract Law | 12 |
| Family Law | 12 |
| International Law | 12 |
| Jurisprudence | 7 |
| Company Law | 6 |
| Environment Law | 6 |
| TOTAL | 120 questions |
- You can also access the CLAT PG 2020 paper[5].
CLAT PG 2022 –
Going by the recent trends, gone are those days when questions from constitution and jurisprudence used to constitute more than 50% of the questions.
As per the latest trends, candidates aspiring for CLAT PG examinations should have conceptual clarity over subjects like Constitution, jurisprudence, Contract law, Family law, Code of Criminal Procedure, Public International law, Environment law etc. which are part of the curriculum of every law school. Candidates should also update themselves with landmark and important judgments, and try to discern various issues discussed in such judgments. Also revisit the landmark constitutional and legislative provisions, particularly those that may have been discussed in recent judgments of the Apex Court.
Last but not the least, candidates aspiring for CLAT PG 2022 are advised to go back to their basics and brush up their knowledge of fundamental concepts of subjects such as constitutional law, jurisprudence, family law, criminal law, public international law, etc. and must also keep touch with current affairs and keep a track of all major legal developments taking place in the country by judgments being passed, enactment of new laws, amendments to existing ones, changes to existing policy, etc.
[1] https://www.powergridindia.com/sites/default/files/Detailed_Advt_ET_2021_CLAT_0.pdf
[2] https://careers.bhel.in:8443/bhel/jsp/
[3] https://consortiumofnlus.ac.in/clat-2021/affiliates.html
[4] https://consortiumofnlus.ac.in/clat-2021/notifications/Answerkey-CLAT-2021-PG.pdf
[5]https://static.collegedekho.com/media/django-summernote/2020-09-28/cb8ee9d5-e250-4645-ae4c-7d32e08d119e.pdf
YLCC would like to thank Manan Agrawal for his valuable inputs in this article.
