The Allahabad High Court has ordered the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) to revise the CLAT UG 2026 merit list after upholding that an expert committee’s assessment of a disputed question was wrongly overruled, prompting a recalculation of marks and rankings.
CLAT UG 2026: Court’s Decision on Merit List Revision
A bench of the High Court led by Justice Vivek Saran heard a petition by a CLAT 2026 aspirant challenging the evaluation of certain answers in the final key. The court found that:
- An Expert Committee had correctly determined that for a particular question, both options “B” and “D” were valid answers.
- However, the Oversight Committee later reversed this without providing any reasons, which the court ruled was legally unsound.
- The court quashed the oversight ruling and instructed that both answers be treated as correct for all question booklets.
- Accordingly, the consortium must revise the merit list to reflect updated marks and rankings.
The directive requires the Consortium of NLUs to republish the corrected merit list within one month of the order.
CLAT UG 2026: Impact on Counselling and Admissions
Though the order mandates a corrected merit list, the court clarified that candidates who have already taken admission in the first round of counselling will not be disturbed. For subsequent counselling rounds, the consortium must use the revised merit list. This ruling is expected to affect candidates whose ranks might shift after the updated evaluation, potentially altering eligibility for certain law programmes in later rounds of CLAT counselling.
CLAT UG 2026: Background of the Dispute
The case centres on a question in the CLAT UG 2026 examination where multiple candidates challenged the answer key on the grounds of incorrect evaluation. The expert panel initially found two correct options; however, the oversight body had not upheld this finding, leading to the legal challenge. Legal observers note that this decision highlights procedural transparency in the evaluation of answer keys for high-stakes exams like CLAT, where even small marking errors can significantly alter candidate rankings and admission chances. Candidates awaiting further counselling and final merit outcomes are advised to watch for official notifications from the Consortium of NLUs on the revised CLAT 2026 merit list and updated counselling schedule.