SC criticises NLU consortium over CLAT UG 2025 question framing

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed anguish over the "casual manner" in which the Consortium of National Law Universities has been framing questions for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT).

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih pointed out errors in some of the CLAT UG-2025 questions while hearing a plea filed by an aspirant challenging the Delhi High Court’s April 23 verdict.

Previously, the Delhi High Court had directed the consortium to revise the marksheets and republish the final list of selected candidates within four weeks.

"At the outset, we must express our anguish at the casual manner in which the respondent number one (consortium) has been framing the questions for the CLAT examination which involves the career aspirations of lakhs of students in the country," the top court said.

The CLAT 2025 for admissions to five-year law (LLB) courses in national law universities was held on December 1 last year, and the results were declared on December 7.

The petitioner claimed to be aggrieved by the high court verdict directing revision of marksheets.

The top court said in matters of academia, the court was always "very slow" in interfering as it did not possess the expertise in such issues.

"When academicians themselves err in such a manner which affects the careers of lakhs of students, the court is left with no other option," it added.

The Supreme Court examined six questions in the case.

Regarding one of the environmental-related questions, the bench referred to the answer key, which incorrectly stated that the fundamental duty to preserve and protect natural resources rests solely with the state.

"It is totally wrong," the bench said, "time and again, the apex court has emphasised the duty of the state as well as the citizens to preserve and protect the natural resources."

The bench referred to its June 2018 order in another case highlighting improper conduct of CLAT 2018.

In the judgement, it said the top court directed the Centre to appoint a committee to look into the issue and take remedial measures, including penal action, if any, against the body entrusted with the task.

Though the judgement came in June 2018, it was noted the Centre took no steps.

The bench then issued a notice to the Centre for its response and posted the matter on May 16.

On April 30, the apex court stayed the high court verdict directing the consortium to revise the marksheets and republish the final list of selected candidates of CLAT UG-2025 within four weeks.

Multiple pleas were filed in different high courts, alleging errors in the questions, but on February 6, the Supreme Court transferred all cases to the Delhi High Court for a "consistent adjudication" after the Consortium of National Law Universities filed transfer petitions.

On December 20, 2024, a Delhi High Court single-judge bench directed the consortium to revise the result of CLAT-2025 over the errors in the answer key, and then, following a challenge, the court's division bench on April 23 accepted certain objections of the candidates while rejecting some of them.

The high court is yet to hear pleas challenging the questions of CLAT PG-2025.

(inputs from PTI)