The Delhi High Court raised eyebrows—and serious concerns—on Tuesday over what it described as an unjustified and exclusionary fee structure imposed by the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) in this year’s CLAT PG exam. The issue? Charging ₹1,000 just to challenge a single question on the provisional answer key.
“That could be someone’s monthly income,” remarked the bench, visibly unconvinced. Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela didn’t mince words, calling the fee a “prohibitory cost” and asking how such an amount could be justified in a nationwide exam meant for candidates from diverse economic backgrounds.
The court was hearing petitions related to alleged errors in the December 1, 2024, CLAT PG paper. The crux of the argument? This wasn’t about filtering out baseless objections—it was about affordability. As one counsel argued, the exam itself already costs ₹4,000 to register for. “It cannot be a milch cow for the Consortium,” he said bluntly.
In its defense, the Consortium claimed the ₹1,000 charge served as a deterrent to frivolous challenges, and that the money is refunded if the objection is upheld. It also argued that bringing in subject experts for evaluation involves considerable effort and expense. Still, that didn’t seem to move the needle much in court.
Adding to the drama, the Consortium admitted that it had already withdrawn four of the eight questions initially challenged. By Tuesday, that number climbed to five—after a discrepancy between the version of a question in the distributed exam paper and the master answer key came to light. The Consortium conceded and withdrew that question too, submitting a joint note to the court.
That leaves just three questions hanging in the balance.
With counselling for the PG program currently paused pending resolution, the High Court has now reserved its verdict on those final three.