The Supreme Court on January 15, today, indicated that it might consider transferring the multiple pleas filed against the results of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2025 to a single high court for an authoritative decision. This move comes amid allegations of errors in several questions in the entrance exam, as reported by PTI.
Petitions challenging the CLAT 2025 results are currently pending in several high courts, including those in Delhi and Karnataka.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar issued notices to lawyers representing parties across various high courts. It expressed a preference for transferring the cases to the Punjab and Haryana High Court for a consolidated judgment.
“The writ petition pending in different high courts should be dealt with one high court. As it would be expeditious, issue notice returnable in the week commencing February 3, 2025. Notices will be served to the counsels appearing for the petitioners before different high courts. The bench is of the view that the matter can be transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” the bench stated.
The bench has scheduled the hearing of transfer pleas filed by the Consortium of National Law Universities (CNLUs) for the week commencing February 3. The consortium's plea, filed through advocate Pritha Srikumar Iyer, was represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
The controversy stems from a Delhi High Court single judge's order on December 20, 2024, which directed the consortium to revise the CLAT 2025 results due to errors in the answer key. The judgment, prompted by a CLAT aspirant's plea, ruled that the answers to two questions in the test were incorrect.
The single judge remarked the errors were "demonstrably clear" and "shutting a blind eye to them" would amount to injustice.
However, while the aspirant challenged the single judge's refusal to consider corrections for two other disputed questions, the consortium filed an appeal against the decision to revise the results.
On December 24, 2024, a division bench of the Delhi High Court declined to pass any interim order after finding no prima facie error with the single judge's decision regarding the two questions. It stated that the consortium could declare the results as per the ruling, the PTI reported.
The CLAT 2025, held on December 1 for admissions to five-year LLB courses in National Law Universities (NLUs), saw its results declared on December 7, 2024.
