The Supreme Court of India, on Monday, declined to hear a petition challenging the administration of the Common Law Admission Test for postgraduates (CLAT PG 2025), directing the aggrieved parties to seek redress from the High Court instead. The bench, led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, emphasized that the Supreme Court should not be the first instance for such complaints.
During the hearing, the bench remarked, “There are precedents stating we cannot act as a court of first instance. We are not inclined to entertain this Article 32 petition. Petitioners may approach the jurisdictional High Court.” Consequently, the court also refused to halt the ongoing admission process pending a High Court review, noting that “the balance of convenience is not in favor of a stay.”
The petition, filed by candidates Anam Khan and Ayush Agrawal, raised issues of procedural discrepancies and alleged arbitrary treatment of candidates in the CLAT PG 2025 exam held on December 1. The petition detailed instances of unequal treatment at different testing centers which purportedly affected the fairness and integrity of the exam. For instance, Anam Khan reported receiving her question booklet on time at a center in Mumbai, whereas Ayush Agrawal received his booklet late at a center in Indore, thus curtailing his allotted exam time.
The petitioners criticized the provisional answer key, highlighting errors in 12 questions and deeming the ₹1,000 fee per objection to be excessive, especially given the errors stemmed from the Consortium’s own mistakes. They also challenged the rapid succession of the answer key release, results, and counseling registration dates, arguing that this timeline hindered candidates’ ability to seek legal recourse or challenge the key’s accuracy effectively.
The Supreme Court suggested that the petitioners could file their complaint with the Delhi High Court, given that the candidates affected by the exam’s conduct were from various states.
