Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has directed the consortium of national law universities to revise the merit list for common law admission test-under graduate (CLAT-UG)-2026, reports Rajesh Kumar Pandey. However, the court clarified that the students who had already taken admission during the first round of counselling they will not be disturbed. CLAT-2026 was held on Dec 7, 2025.Justice Vivek Saran partly allowed a petition filed by Avneesh Gupta, a candidate who appeared in CLAT exams. The court passed the order as the high-powered ‘Oversight Committee’ had arbitrarily overruled subject matter experts regarding a disputed question without assigning any reasons for the same. The petitioner, who took the test, moved the HC challenging the answer key for questions 6, 9 and 13 of test booklet-C (corresponding to questions 88, 91 and 95 of master booklet-A). While the court refused to interfere with questions 6 and 13, it found merit regarding the challenge to question 9, a logical reasoning question and directed that both ‘B’ and ‘D’ options must be treated as the correct answer.The court noted that the oversight committee had overruled the decision of the expert committee and had retained the correct option as answer ‘B’ for the question without assigning any reasons.The court while allowing the petition observed, “In such view of the matter, the respondent/consortium of national law universities (NLUs) is directed to revise the merit list by awarding marks against question 9 of booklet-C (corresponding to question 91 of booklet-A) and to all other questions which correspond to the same in different booklets of CLAT-2026 entrance examination by treating both ‘B’ and ‘D’ as correct answers and thereafter are further directed to revise the merit list and republish/re-notify the same within a period of one month from today.““Since it has been informed at the bar that the first round of counselling has already been finalised, thus the students/candidates who have already taken admission pursuant to the first round of counselling shall not be disturbed. However, for further counselling, the respondents are directed to act on the revised/re-notified merit list.”, added the HC in its order dated Jan 23.
