CLAT-UG row: May transfer Consortium of NLUs plea to one high court, says SC

NEW DELHI: In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it may transfer all petitions challenging the 2025 Common Law Admission Test results to one high court, preferably the Punjab and Haryana HC.

The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), 2025, conducted on December 1, 2024, determines admissions to undergraduate law courses in National Law Universities in the country and several pleas were filed in different high courts on the allegations alleging several questions in the exam were wrong.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar issued notices on transfer petitions filed by the Consortium of National Law Universities (CNLUs), seeking to consolidate multiple cases pending in the high courts.

High courts of Delhi, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab and Haryana are hearing the petitions.

The bench said it was in favour of sending the cases to one high court, preferably the Punjab and Haryana High Court, for an authoritative judgement on the row.

The CJI said transferring all petitions to a single high court would ensure an expedited and consistent adjudication.

He pointed out the first petition over the CLAT results was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and underlined its "commendable" case disposal rate, which was "higher than other courts".

"The writ petitions pending in different courts should be dealt with one high court, as it would be expeditious. Issue notice returnable in the week commencing February 3, 2025,” the bench said in the order.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta represented the CNLUs, which filed its plea through advocate Pritha Srikumar Iyer.

Mehta was in agreement with the transfer of the cases but suggested choosing the Karnataka High Court.

The bench however remained inclined toward the Punjab and Haryana High Court, citing its efficiency and prior jurisdiction over the matter.

Lawyers representing students raised concerns, with some urging the bench to consider transferring the cases to the Delhi High Court.

The Delhi High Court, they argued, had already passed a favourable order for some petitioners by identifying errors in two questions of the CLAT-UG 2025 exam and directing the consortium to revise their results.

The bench, while addressing these submissions, remarked, "Law students should not fold their hands."

An aspirant recently informed a Delhi High Court division bench that several petitions were pending in different high courts and the transfer pleas would be moved before the top court.

The high court then posted the pleas, filed against the order of a single judge bench, on January 30.

On December 20, 2024, a Delhi High Court single judge directed the consortium to revise the result of CLAT-2025 over errors in the answer key.

The single judge's verdict, which came on the plea of a CLAT aspirant, ruled the answers to two questions in the entrance test were wrong.

The plea had challenged the answer key published by the consortium on December 7, 2024 while seeking a direction to declare correct answers to certain questions.

The single judge said the errors were "demonstrably clear" and "shutting a blind eye to them" would amount to injustice.

While the aspirant challenged the single judge's order which refused his prayer over the other two questions, the consortium moved against the single judge's decision.

On December 24, 2024, a division bench hearing the challenges refused to pass any interim order after prima facie finding no error with the single judge's order over the two questions and said the consortium was free to declare the results in terms of the judge's decision.

The CLAT, 2025 for admissions in five-year LLB courses in NLUs was held on December 1 and results were declared on December 7, 2024.