CLAT UG 2026: HC overturns order seeking revision of merit list

Prayagraj: A division bench of the Allahabad high court on Friday set aside an order of a single judge passed in Feb this year directing the Consortium of National Law Universities to revise the merit list for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) UG 2026.

With this, the bench comprising Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi restored the final answer key released by the consortium on Dec 16, 2025, after the expert committees reviewed the raised objections.

The HC allowed the consortium’s special appeal by observing that courts cannot act as appellate authorities over the decisions of subject experts, as judicial review in such evaluation matters is available only under a “very narrow compass”.

Earlier, a writ petition was filed by a CLAT undergraduate candidate before the single judge challenging the final answer key for question Nos. 6, 9 and 13 of Set-C.

On Feb 3, 2026, the single judge had partly allowed the petition and directed the consortium to publish a revised merit list for subsequent counselling rounds.

The division bench said the final answer key was the outcome of a structured and two-tier scrutiny mechanism involving subject experts and an oversight committee.

In this backdrop, the court said: “Such an exercise by experts in the related field establishes a strong presumption of correctness, particularly in academic matters, unless a clear and demonstrable error is established.”