The legal battle over the results of the Common Law Admission Test 2025 (CLAT-UG) continues to escalate, with the petitioner, Aditya Singh, informing the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that he intends to approach the Supreme Court to seek the transfer of similar cases from various High Courts to the apex court for a consolidated hearing.
During the hearing before a Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, Singh requested an adjournment in light of his intent to file a transfer petition. He explained that there are similar matters pending before other High Courts, and a unified hearing in the Supreme Court would help avoid inconsistent rulings. The Bench granted Singh's request for adjournment and scheduled the next hearing for January 30.
This case stems from the results of CLAT-UG 2025, where Singh, a 17-year-old candidate, flagged multiple errors in the examination paper. Singh first approached the Delhi High Court, leading to a December 20 ruling by single-judge Justice Jyoti Singh. In that ruling, the judge concluded that there were clear mistakes in two out of the five questions flagged by Singh. Acknowledging these errors, the judge ordered the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs), which conducts the CLAT exam, to make necessary corrections to the results. The single-judge opined that when clear errors in an exam are made out, the court cannot adopt a hands-off approach and must ensure that justice is served to the affected candidates.
However, the ruling only addressed two of the five questions flagged by Singh, which led him to challenge the order further. In his appeal before the Division Bench, Singh argued that the single-judge should have acknowledged errors in all five flagged questions, as the three remaining questions also contained what he described as "blatant mistakes." Singh is seeking further modifications to the order to address these additional questions.
At the same time, the NLU Consortium has also filed an appeal, challenging the single-judge's intervention in the examination results. The Consortium argued that the court had overstepped its authority by interfering with the decisions made by subject matter experts. According to the Consortium, the single-judge wrongly assumed the role of an expert by scrutinizing and altering the exam answers, which had been finalized by the examiners after a thorough review.
When the Division Bench first heard the appeal on December 24, it refused to grant a stay on the single-judge’s order, ruling that no prima facie error had been found in Justice Jyoti Singh's findings. The Bench allowed the NLU Consortium to proceed with the declaration of revised results in line with the original single-judge's order.
With Aditya Singh now planning to approach the Supreme Court for a transfer of the case, the matter remains in limbo. If Singh's petition to the Supreme Court is successful, it could lead to all similar cases being consolidated and heard together, potentially impacting the final resolution of the CLAT-UG 2025 results.
Beyond the undergraduate exam, the controversy surrounding CLAT has also extended to the postgraduate (PG) examination. The results of the CLAT-PG exam have been challenged in separate cases before the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the Bombay High Court due to alleged inaccuracies in the answer keys. The legal disputes over both the UG and PG results have created uncertainty for candidates across the country who are vying for admission to the prestigious National Law Universities (NLUs).
As the legal wrangling continues, the outcome of these cases could have significant implications for the CLAT examination process and the admissions cycle for 2025. Candidates and institutions alike are awaiting further developments as the matter progresses through the courts.
With the next hearing at the Delhi High Court scheduled for January 30, and the possibility of a Supreme Court intervention, the CLAT results controversy is far from resolved, leaving the future of many law aspirants hanging in the balance.
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