The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday stayed the Delhi High Court’s direction to the Consortium of National Law Universities to revise the merit list of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2025 for undergraduate admissions. The interim relief was granted while the apex court issued notice in a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the High Court’s ruling.
A Bench comprising Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice A.G. Masih passed the interim order, thereby halting the implementation of the Delhi High Court’s judgment dated April 23, 2025.
Background of the Case
The controversy arose from the conduct of the CLAT-UG 2025 examination held on December 1, 2024. Following the exam, multiple complaints were filed regarding errors in the question papers. A single judge of the Delhi High Court, in December 2024, found two answers to be incorrect and directed the Consortium to revise the results of the petitioners who had approached the court.
Subsequently, the Consortium challenged this ruling before a Division Bench of the High Court. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela delivered its decision on April 23, 2025. The Court found that four questions across sets B, C, and D contained errors. It directed the Consortium to award marks for these flawed questions to candidates who attempted those sets and to revise the merit list accordingly within four weeks.
However, the High Court declined to grant similar relief to candidates who attempted the A set, observing that it did not contain any erroneous questions.
Supreme Court Challenge
The Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court was filed by a candidate who had attempted the A set and secured an impressive All India Rank of 22. The petitioner contended that the High Court’s order was discriminatory, as it conferred additional marks to candidates who received erroneous sets (B, C, and D), while denying any benefit to candidates who received the error-free A set.
This, the petitioner argued, placed A set candidates at a relative disadvantage and compromised the principle of a level playing field in a national competitive examination.
Earlier Supreme Court Intervention
Earlier in February 2025, the Supreme Court had consolidated and transferred to the Delhi High Court multiple petitions filed in different High Courts across the country, challenging various aspects of the CLAT-UG 2025 results. This move was intended to centralise the adjudication process and avoid conflicting decisions.
With the Supreme Court’s interim stay now in place, the CLAT-UG 2025 merit list as it currently stands will remain unaffected until further orders. The matter will now proceed before the apex court for a full hearing on the merits of the challenge.
