[CLAT UG 2025] ‘What Kind of Consortium Is This?’: Supreme Court Slams Paper Errors

The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday, 7 May 2025, expressed anguish at the manner in which the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) has been framing questions, as it involves the careers of lakhs of students across the country.

A bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice A.G. Masih, therefore, went on to issue notice to the Union of India and the Bar Council of India while dealing with a petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s judgment, wherein it had directed a revision of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2025 Undergraduate merit list due to errors in some of the questions.

The case arose after candidates appearing for the exam pointed out errors in some questions in different sets of the exam paper, particularly in Sets B, C, and D. Aggrieved by this, the students approached the Delhi High Court stating that the error led to discrepancies in results. The single judge bench of the Delhi High Court identified the errors and sought the revision of the merit list. Upon appeal, the division bench upheld the decision of the single-judge bench.

Subsequently, a Special Leave Petition (SLP) was filed before the top court by a candidate who attempted the A Set and secured All India Rank 22, arguing that the decision disadvantaged students who had received Set A.

During the hearing today, the court pointed out multiple errors in the CLAT 2025 question paper while dealing with six questions: 56, 77, 78, 85, 88, 115, and 116.

Question no 56

While referring to question no. 56, the court noted that it pertained to environmental issues. The top court observed that the answer key incorrectly restricted the duty to protect the environment solely to the State. The court held that both the State and citizens share the duty to protect the environment.

"We therefore direct the consortium to give positive markings to all students who have given answers C and D and to give negative markings to those who have given answers A and B," the court said.

Question no 77

The court set aside the direction of the high court to delete this question and held that the correct answer for question 77 is Option B.

"This takes us to question 77. It is seen that if a student applies reason and logic, it can be determined what constitutes a void contract, a voidable contract, and a valid contract. We hold that the correct and logically deducible answer is Option B, which refers to a voidable agreement. Therefore, we set aside the direction of the high court to delete this question. We direct the Consortium to award marks to those students who selected Option B," the court added.

Question no 78

Agreeing with the view taken by the division bench, which had rejected the contention to delete the question, the court said it concurred with the high court's reasoning and held that the correct answer is option C.

Question nos 85,88

About the said question, the court held, "The Respondent No. 1, Consortium, itself has deleted question 85. We find that there is not much difference between questions 85 and 88. For the same reason which led to the deletion of 85, we are of the view that question No. 88 should also be deleted.

Question no 115,116

The court deleted question nos. 115 and 116 after noting that they involved mathematical analysis. It also set aside the direction by the high court to award marks in the said questions.

"We, therefore, direct the deletion of question Nos. 115 and 116. We set aside the high court's direction to award marks to all candidates who attempted these questions, as the confusion may have led many students to skip them. To ensure a level playing field, the questions shall be deleted for all candidates," the court noted.

On April 30, the top court stayed the Delhi High Court’s judgment, which asked the Consortium of National Law Universities to revise the CLAT UG 2025 results due to errors in two questions.

Case Title: SIDDHI SANDEEP LADDA Vs CONSORTIUM OF NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITIES