The Delhi High Court has directed the Consortium of National Law Universities to revise the CLAT-2025 (Common Law Admission Test) results due to errors in the answer key. The court stated that these mistakes could affect the merit list and candidates' rankings. It emphasised the importance of fairness and correcting errors to avoid injustice to the students.
Justice Jyoti Singh, heading the bench, remarked, "The errors in Question Nos. 14 and 100 are demonstrably clear, and shutting a blind eye to the same would be an injustice to the petitioner, albeit this court is conscious of the fact that it may impact the result of other candidates."
The case was brought forward by Aditya Singh, a minor, who challenged the answer key for CLAT-2025, which is used for admissions to five-year law programs at National Law Universities (NLUs). Aditya argued that rectifying these errors would raise his score from 87 to 93.25, improving his ranking and increasing his chances of securing admission to one of the top three NLUs.
The Consortium of NLUs defended the examination process, highlighting that the results were finalised after recommendations from expert committees. However, the court noted that while judicial intervention in academic matters should be rare, it is necessary in exceptional cases where errors are clear and cause injustice to candidates.
The judgment also clarified that language comprehension questions do not require candidates to apply legal reasoning or analyse constitutional provisions. The court partially allowed Aditya's petition, ordering the award of marks for Question 14 and confirming the exclusion of Question 100.
The CLAT examination consists of 120 questions and lasts for two hours. The CLAT UG paper covers topics such as the English language, current affairs (including general knowledge), logical reasoning, legal reasoning, and quantitative techniques. The CLAT PG paper includes questions on constitutional law and other legal areas, such as jurisprudence, family law, criminal law, property law, administrative law, contract law, torts, company law, public international law, tax law, environmental law, and labor and industrial law.
(With inputs from IANS)
