CLAT 2015 admissions held up indefinitely over error-ridden answer-key

The publication of merit list and seat allocation under the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), conducted for admissions to 16 prestigious national law universities in India on May 10 this year is held up on account of the controversy over errors in the answer-keys. The first seat allotment list was supposed to be out on May 31, which was delayed to June 2 citing "technical reasons".  Currently, this date also stands cancelled stirring controversies.

Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University (Lucknow), which on rotation conducted CLAT this year saw participation of around 40,000 candidates from different parts of the country. The university issued a statement in this regard on Wednesday, and also announced constitution of an expert committee to probe into the allegations of wrong entries in answer-keys as alleged by some candidates.

In a notification issued on Wednesday, the CLAT convenor remarked, "On uploading of the question papers with answer keys on the CLAT website, representations have been received from some candidates wherein they have questioned accuracy of answers of certain questions. Taking into cognizance these representations, an expert committee has been constituted to look into the matter."The notification further says the publication of the first allotment list is, therefore, put on hold till a final view is taken on these representations. Candidates shall be informed about the next date of publication of first indicative allotment list in due course."Candidates claimed that the answers which were marked "correct" in the individual marking scheme are marked "wrong" in the answer-keys uploaded on the website and vice versa.

Candidates moved various high courts including Allahabad High Court over delay in the publication of question paper despite giving a clear date in the prospectus. The question papers and answer-keys were then published, leading to allegations of wrong answers of "at least seven questions".Students who called helpline numbers and sent email to CLAT convenor complain of nil response or vague replies.  Till date, all candidates have been issued their individual marking scheme via email.