Students appearing for CLAT (Common Law Entrance Test) 2021 examinations for PG and UG courses conducted by the Consortium of National Law Universities at National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, Nagarbhavi. | Photo credit: K. Murali Kumar
The recently dismissed petition in the Supreme Court has sparked a debate on the grounds that the Provisional Answer Key for the Postgraduate Common Law Entrance Test (CLAT PG) exam to be held on December 1 was not correct.
CLAT is a national level entrance examination for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate law programs offered by 24 national law universities in the country. The examination is organized by the Consortium of National Law Universities (CNLUs), consisting of representative universities.
A petition filed by Anam Khan and Ayush Aggarwal in the Supreme Court alleged that the provisional answer key of the CLAT PG exam released on December 2 contained significant errors, including incorrect answers to 12 questions.
People associated with the legal representation of the CNLUs in the case said that the final answer was already out of the question when the case came up for hearing in court on December 9. They said the petition was rejected by the Supreme Court on the ground laid down. The court made a verbal comment saying that the publication of the results was delayed when the case was pending in the Supreme Court.
“As per CLAT calendar, the final answer key was to be released on December 9, 2024. CLAT 2025 results were to be released on December 10, 2024. The admission counseling process was to start from December 11, 2024. However, the consortium has decided to release the final answer key and proceeded to publish the results and released both on the same night on December 7. There were glaring mistakes in the provisional answer key which were not resolved even in the final answer key,” Adv Mansi Bhushan, who was present. For the petitioners in the Supreme Court, it is held.
On December 9, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna refused to entertain a writ petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution. It gave liberty to the petitioners to approach the High Court having jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution.
“There are instances when the Supreme Court has promptly decided petitions challenging the conduct of pan-India examinations and granted interim relief. In my view it is easier to seek relief (eg stay) from the Supreme Court as the relief applies to the whole of India. Relief before the High Court/s “Seeking conflicting judgments and state jurisdiction alone can lead to difficulty in operating a stay,” advocate Bhushan said.
Corporate lawyer-turned CLAT mentor, Nishant Prakash, whose students secured five of the top 10 ranks in CLAT and All India Law Entrance Exams this year, alleged that the CLAT Graduate or CLAT UG exams are “similarly was conducted unprofessionally”. .
“Four questions from the Logical Reasoning section were completely wrong which were later withdrawn by the consortium in the final answer key. Three more answers were changed in the provisional answer keys after complaints raised by the students. Majority of the students wasted time searching for these questions and could not complete the paper, so these questions were withdrawn only. I strongly believe that consortium cannot be the solution,’ he said.
However, Prof. Dr. S Shanthakumar, director and vice-president of Gujarat National Law University, the governing body of CNLUs, assured that “extreme care is always taken to avoid mistakes”.
“In law, questions and answer options in a paper are interpreted differently by different people,” explained Mr. Shantakumar.
He said that there was no delay in the declaration of CLAT 2025 results.
published – December 17, 2024 at 02:06 pm IST