In a major development offering some much-needed relief to CLAT UG 2025 aspirants, the Supreme Court has put a temporary hold on the Delhi High Court’s order directing the Consortium of NLUs to revise the CLAT merit list due to errors in four questions across certain sets of the exam.
The stay came after a petition was filed by Siddhi Sandeep Ladda, a candidate who secured an All India Rank 22 with Set A one of the few sets without any of the identified errors.
In her plea, Landa argued that the High Court’s April 23 ruling would unfairly benefit students who received Sets B, C, and D (which had mistakes), as they were being awarded marks regardless of whether they attempted or correctly answered the flawed questions. Meanwhile, candidates with error-free sets like Set A would be left out, creating an uneven playing field.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih heard the matter and issued notices to the Consortium of NLUs, while listing the case for further hearing on May 5, 2025. Until then, the existing CLAT merit list will remain in effect.
Ladda was represented by an experienced legal team comprising Senior Advocates KK Venugopal, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Deepak Nargolkar, and Advocate Shoumik Ghoshal, a sign of how seriously the issue is being taken.
The background to this controversy dates back to the CLAT-UG exam held on December 1, 2024, which led to multiple petitions alleging errors in the question paper.
The Delhi High Court, after consolidating these petitions from different High Courts, found errors in four specific questions in the master booklet. It directed the Consortium to correct the evaluation and republish the final merit list within four weeks.
The four questions highlighted by the High Court were:
1. Question 5
Incorrect option in answer key; students who marked the correct option (c) to be awarded marks.
2. Question 77
Found to be out of syllabus; marks lost due to negative marking to be restored.
3. Question 115
The Correct answer was “None of these” instead of the option given; all who attempted the question to get full marks.
4. Question 116
Affected only Sets B, C, and D; marks to be awarded accordingly. Set A was accurate, so no change was ordered there.
However, the Supreme Court’s stay means the Consortium won’t be revising the result just yet. The Court also asked the Consortium to inform candidates via its website that the petition is under consideration. This legal dispute has halted the CLAT 2025 counselling process, originally set to begin on December 9, 2024, with the first seat allotment list expected by December 26, 2024.
The Consortium has postponed counselling indefinitely, pending the Supreme Court’s final decision. This delay affects over 70,000 candidates and admissions to 24 National Law Universities, as well as other law colleges relying on CLAT scores, creating significant uncertainty and potential disruptions to academic schedules.
With thousands of students waiting for clarity on their law school admissions, the final outcome of this case is now tied to the next hearing on May 5. Until then, the current CLAT merit list stands. Join Our Telegram Page for more Latest Updates
