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Bombay HC hears forceful argument that some CLAT answers wrong, asks CLAT’s ‘experts’ to explain

In the latest hearing on the CLAT 2015 case, the High Court of Bombay on 25 June asked the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) convenor to seek clarification from its expert committee on the objections raised by the petitioner regarding 7 questions in the UG exam. The court has refused to grant any interim relief, setting the next date for hearing as 30 June 2015.

Senior counsel Kevic Setalvad, arguing for the petitioner Shubham Dutt, went into details regarding the seven questions that they contend to be wrong, questioning the CLAT’s expert committee’s finding that only two answers in the answer key were incorrect, reported Bar & Bench, saying: “Mistakes can be made, but to support the indefensible is appalling.”

On one question, even the opposing counsel reportedly conceded that an additional answer was most likely incorrect, while Setalvad pointed two questions copied from the 1996 and 1999 NLSIU Bangalore entrance exams wrongly and question 25 regarding antonym word pairs.

However, the CLAT convener’s counsel, senior counsel Ravi Kadam contended that these objections should have been raised earlier, and also submitted to the court the current findings and recommendations of the expert committee.

In its order the court noted that before considering passing any orders regarding the allotment lists or admission procedure, it would like to ascertain the final position on the correctness of the seven contested questions:

We are of the view that, at this stage, for passing any further orders, it is desirable that the concerned respondents should get the clarification from the Expert Committee referring to the objections so raised by the petitioner.

The court also highlighted the fact that if indeed these seven questions were found to be incorrect, it would have implications for the overall merit list which could not be ignored.

Importance of additions or deductions of marks can not be overlooked in any competitive examinations. Here as stated, there are 7 such answers, which may affect the merit of the petitioner or such other students.

The next date of hearing at the Bombay high court is 30th June, when the CLAT convener’s advocate is expected to submit the Expert Committee’s response regarding the seven contested questions.

The complete order available here (PDF).

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