The Delhi High Court reserved its verdict on a plea challenging three CLAT PG questions and raised concern over the Rs.1,000-per-question challenge fee, noting it could equal a month’s income for some candidates.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court expressed strong disapproval on Tuesday regarding the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) charging an excessive fee of Rs.1,000 per question for objections to the provisional answer key in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2025 for postgraduate (PG) courses.
The bench, consisting of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, highlighted that candidates come from various financial backgrounds and that this fee could represent a month’s income for some individuals.
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Justice Gedela stated,
“How do you justify Rs.1000 for challenging the questions? All sorts of people are giving the exam. It is prohibitory cost. You are answerable to people of all backgrounds. It may be monthly income for someone. This is in terrorem,”
The Court was reviewing a series of cases challenging the errors in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2025 for postgraduate (PG) courses, which took place on December 1, 2024.
Advocate Siddharth R Gupta, representing two candidates, pointed out to the Court that no other national-level examination imposes such high registration fees or costs for raising objections to questions.
He asserted,
“Already you are taking Rs.4000 rupees as registration fee. It cannot be milch cow for the Consortium to earn profits,”
In response to the objections fee, the Consortium explained to the Court that the amount is refunded promptly if the challenge is upheld. They argued that the higher fee is intended to deter frivolous objections and that consulting experts and reviewing objections is a lengthy process that justifies the cost.
The NLU Consortium also informed the Court that it has opted to withdraw four questions on its own initiative.
Additionally, they noted that the counselling process for the PG course has been suspended due to the ongoing petitions.
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At the same time, the Court observed that the objections were not submitted by the petitioner-candidates within the one-day window provided by the NLU Consortium.
Initially, a total of eight questions were challenged in Court. Subsequently, the Consortium held an internal meeting on April 4 and withdrew four of these questions. During yesterday’s hearing, arguments were presented regarding the remaining four questions.
After the Court reserved its verdict, advocate Gupta highlighted a “glaring issue” concerning one question. It was noted that the correct option printed in the question paper distributed to candidates differed from the option listed in the master booklet prepared by the Consortium.
The Consortium subsequently decided to withdraw this question, and a joint note was submitted to inform the Court of this development.
As a result, the Court will now issue a ruling on the objections related to three questions for which it has reserved its order.
Advocates Siddharth R Gupta, Aman Agarwal, and Uddaish Palya represented the petitioners, Anam Khan and Ayush Agarwal.
Advocate Kaadambri Singh Puri appeared on behalf of another petitioner, Nitika.
Advocate Arun Shrikumar represented the Consortium of NLUs.