The CLAT consortium has accepted, after consultation with an expert committee and oversight committee, changes to the answer key of six questions, after receiving 1,026 individual objections over 61 questions in the exams.

The larges number of objections - 492 and 367 respectively - were received in the legal reasoning and quantitative techniques sections, according to the CLAT press release.

The CLAT consortium explained:

Upon considering all the materials, the Oversight Committee accepted the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee on Question Number 143 of UG and recommended for the deletion of the said question. The Committee also accepted the recommendation on Question Numbers 86 and 145 of UG and 116 of PG and further recommended a requisite amendment to the Answer Keys. However, the Oversight Committee overruled two recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee on Question Numbers 61 and 98 respectively. There were two correct answers to both these questions (61 and 98) in the options provided. The Subject Expert Committee had recommended for the deletion of both the questions, but the Oversight Committee recommended that both the options be deemed to be correct and requisite amendments be made in the Final Answer Key.

The CLAT consortium also noted that a total of 62,106 candidates appeared for the physical exam out of 70,277 that had initially registered and 66,887 who had downloaded admit cards (it appears that this figure includes both undergraduate and post-graduate examinees).

That means around 3,390 candidates who had registered did not download admit cards, and another 4,781 did not appear after downloading admit cards, a total reduction of around 11% of candidates interested in the CLAT who appear not to have taken it.

Despite physical distancing and hygiene measures in place, the pandemic and repeated postponements might be to blame for that.

Full CLAT consortium press release, dated today

CLAT-2021 was conducted on July 23, 2021 at 147 centres in 82 cities across the country. Out of 70,277 candidates who registered, 66,887 downloaded their Admit Cards and 62,106 appeared for the Test. 147 Centres were coordinated through 24 Regional Centres, supervised by 174 Centre Superintendents, 184 Centre Observers and more than 3,500 Invigilators. All stakeholders conducting CLAT-2021 were provided with COVID Kits containing sanitizer, mask, face shield, and hand-gloves. Apart from increasing Test Centres from previous years, the Consortium had directed the Centres to accommodate less than 50% of actual seating capacity in the examination halls. The Consortium organised CLAT-2021 to ensure the health and safety of all stakeholders of CLAT-2021. The Test Centres were directed to display Seating Plans at multiple visible locations to avoid crowding and were also advised to display Flex Printed Seating Plans wherever required.

All the candidates were allowed to carry their Question Booklet and the carbon copy of the OMR response sheet. The Consortium published the Master Question Booklet with Provisional Answer Key at 09:00 P.M. on the day of the Test itself inviting objection (s) on Questions and Answer Key. The Portal for objections closed at 09:00 P.M. on July 24, 2021. The Consortium Office received 24 objections on 11 out of 120 Questions and Answer Key for the PG, and 1,026 Objections were received on 61 Questions and Answer Key for the UG.

The Executive Committee of Consortium met on July 24, 2021 and directed the Convenor to constitute a Committee of three subject experts for each of the five sections of UG and a Committee of three subject experts for PG. The Convenor constituted the Committees of renowned scholars, deans, and heads of departments immediately after the said meeting to look into the objections. Question Papers with Provisional Answer Key along with all the objections in each section were placed before the respective Committees of each section. There were 47 objections on 13 out of 30 Questions of English Section; 53 objections on 7 out of 35 Questions on General Knowledge & Current Affairs; 492 objections on 21 out of 40 Questions of Legal Reasoning; 67 objections on 8 out of 30 Questions of Logical Reasoning; and 367 objections on 12 out of 15 Questions of section on Quantitative Techniques.

Subject Expert Committees deliberated on all objections in a blend of physical and virtual mode and submitted their reports. The Executive Committee in its meeting held on July 25, 2021 directed the Convenor to constitute an Oversight Committee to be chaired by a former Chief Justice of a High Court to review the observations and recommendations of the Subjects Expert Committee. Accordingly, the Convenor constituted an Oversight Committee and Question Booklets and Answer Keys, along with the objections raised by candidates, all observations and working notes prepared by Subject Expert Committees were presented before the Oversight Committee consisting of deans, professors, and vice-chancellors as renowned experts in the areas of each section of CLAT. On July 27, 2021 , sixteen members of five Subject Expert Committees met in a common meeting in a blend of physical and virtual mode at 10.30 A.M. and recorded its observations and recommendations.

The Oversight Committee chaired by a former Chief Justice of a High Court met in a blend of physical and virtual mode at 01.30 P.M. on July 27, 2021, and considered Candidates’ objections, working notes and minutes of the Subject Expert Committees containing observations and recommendations. Upon considering all the materials, the Oversight Committee accepted the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee on Question Number 143 of UG and recommended for the deletion of the said question. The Committee also accepted the recommendation on Question Numbers 86 and 145 of UG and 116 of PG and further recommended a requisite amendment to the Answer Keys. However, the Oversight Committee overruled two recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee on Question Numbers 61 and 98 respectively. There were two correct answers to both these questions (61 and 98) in the options provided. The Subject Expert Committee had recommended for the deletion of both the questions, but the Oversight Committee recommended that both the options be deemed to be correct and requisite amendments be made in the Final Answer Key.

Minutes of both the meetings as mentioned above were placed in the meeting of Executive Committee of Consortium of NLUs held on July 27, 2021 at 04.00 P.M. and the Committee unanimously accepted the recommendations of the Oversight Committee and directed the Convenor to release the Final Answer Key.