SC 'anguished' over NLU consortium's CLAT UG 2025 question framing

New Delhi

The Supreme Court expressed concern on Wednesday over the casual manner in which the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLU) framed questions for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih was hearing a petition challenging the Delhi High Court's April 23 ruling, which directed the consortium to revise marksheets and republish the final list of selected candidates for CLAT UG-2025 within four weeks.

The court highlighted errors in the exam questions and criticized the NLU consortium for its approach, which affects the career prospects of thousands of students. The bench noted that while the court is typically cautious in intervening in academic matters, it had no choice when such errors affect many students' futures.

The court specifically addressed six problematic questions, including one on environmental issues, where it disagreed with the answer key, stating that the fundamental duty to protect natural resources belongs to both the state and citizens. The bench ordered positive marking for those who selected certain answers, while others would face negative marking.

The Supreme Court also set aside the Delhi High Court’s order to delete one question, instead instructing the consortium to award marks to those who chose the correct option. Additionally, two questions involving detailed mathematical analysis were to be deleted.

The court further questioned why a permanent mechanism for conducting CLAT had not been established and issued a notice to the Centre to respond by May 16.