The Supreme Court has ordered the transfer of all petitions challenging the 2025 Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) results from various high courts to the Delhi High Court for consistent adjudication. The decision was made by a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan in response to transfer petitions filed by the Consortium of National Law Universities (CNLUs), as reported by PTI.
The Delhi High Court’s division bench will hear the consolidated petitions on March 3. "The matters relating to the common law admission tests, PG and UG, will be transferred to a division bench of the Delhi High Court where a letter patent appeal is pending. The records are to be transferred expeditiously within seven days," the bench directed.
The CLAT 2025, conducted in December last year, is the gateway for admissions to undergraduate and postgraduate law programmes in national law universities across India. Multiple petitions were filed in different high courts, alleging errors in several exam questions.
In an overarching directive, the Supreme Court also ordered that any additional pending cases in other high courts be transferred to the Delhi High Court. "We are also inclined to pass an omnibus order that in case of any other high court or in any other matter, the respondent/ CNLUs is entitled to file a copy of this order before the high court for transfer of case to the Delhi High Court," the bench stated.
Registrars of high courts in Bombay, Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Calcutta have been directed to transfer the judicial records of the pending cases to the Delhi High Court.
Earlier, on January 15, the Supreme Court had indicated that all petitions could be consolidated under one high court, with the Punjab and Haryana High Court initially considered. However, several students advocated for Delhi High Court, citing a prior favourable ruling identifying errors in two CLAT-UG 2025 exam questions and directing the consortium to revise the results.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CNLUs, supported the transfer but initially suggested Karnataka High Court as the preferred jurisdiction.
The Delhi High Court had previously ruled on December 20, 2024, that the consortium must revise the CLAT-2025 results due to errors in the answer key. The ruling came in response to a petition challenging the answer key published on December 7, 2024. The court found errors in two questions, stating that ignoring them would be an "injustice".
While the consortium and an aspirant challenged different aspects of the single judge’s decision, a division bench on December 24, 2024, declined to grant an interim stay, allowing the consortium to declare results in line with the ruling.
The CLAT 2025, held on December 1, determines admissions to five-year LLB courses in national law universities.
