On April 30, the Supreme Court of India stayed the order passed by the Delhi High Court, which had directed the Consortium of National Law Universities to revise the CLAT-UG 2025 merit list due to identified mistakes in certain question papers.
A bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih issued the interim order while hearing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by a candidate challenging the High Court’s decision delivered on April 23.
“We are staying the operation of the Delhi High Court judgment. Issue notice,” stated the bench in its brief interim ruling.
The Delhi High Court had earlier found errors in four questions across question paper sets B, C, and D and instructed that marks for these be awarded to candidates who attempted these specific sets. The Consortium was ordered to revise the merit list within four weeks. However, the benefit of correction was not extended to candidates who attempted Set A, with the High Court noting that Set A had no errors.
The petitioner before the Supreme Court, who attempted Set A and secured All India Rank 22, argued that the High Court’s ruling created inequality, as it gave an unfair advantage to students who attempted the other sets. The petitioner claimed that the decision denied her a level playing field, affecting her chances in the final merit list.
“This direction puts A Set candidates at a disadvantage compared to B, C, and D set students,” the petitioner argued.
The CLAT-UG 2025 examination, held on December 1, 2024, faced several objections due to alleged mistakes in the question papers. In December 2024, a single judge of the Delhi High Court had found two incorrect answers and ordered re-evaluation for the concerned petitioners. The Consortium had challenged this before a division bench.
On April 23, 2025, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed the Consortium to revise the results accordingly but limited the relief only to candidates of question sets with errors.
In February, the Supreme Court had already transferred to the Delhi High Court several petitions from different High Courts challenging the CLAT 2025 results, consolidating the dispute under one jurisdiction.
During the Supreme Court proceedings, Senior Advocates KK Venugopal, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Deepak Nargolkar, and Soumik Ghoshal (AOR) appeared for the petitioner.
Following the stay order, the Consortium's legal team mentioned the matter again at 1 PM, seeking urgent hearing, stating that only six petitioners were affected. The bench scheduled the matter for hearing on Monday and instructed the Consortium to publish an update on its official website, informing the public that the Supreme Court is now reviewing the High Court’s order.
“The matter will be heard on Monday. Let the Consortium notify on its website that the SLP is under consideration,” the court directed.
Case Title:Sidhi Sandeep Ladda vs Consortium of National Law Universities and Anr | Diary No. 22324-2025