Shivangi Gupta v NLU Jodhpur & Anr

7/31/2019 Shivangi Gupta v NLU Jodhpur & Anr

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LIST OF DATES AND EVENTS

2.01.2012 Publication of the Advertisement by respondentsinviting applications for

B.A,/B.Sc./B.B.A./BSW/B.Com. LL.B (Hons.) Degree

Course, through Common Law Admission Test

(CLAT) 2012 on All India basis.

13.05.2012 The petitioner filled the application form for Common

Law Admission Test CLAT 2012 and was allowed to

appear in the entrance examination with Roll Number

11611406673. Common Law Admission Test (CLAT)2012 was conducted on various test centers all over

India. The test center allotted to the petitioner was

Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of

Delhi, Delhi-110007.

28.05.2012 Declaration of CLAT 2012 result by respondent.

Petitioner has secured 113 marks and the last selected

candidate has secured 123 marks. Petitioner has

secured All India Rank of 2719.

29.05.2012 Representation was made by petitioner to the

respondent seeking revision of result and requesting the

question paper with model answer key because there

were numerous questions in the entrance test paper

which were incomplete in nature and out of the

syllabus. consequently thereof, the petitioner has been

made to suffer and have not got a fair opportunity to

qualify for admission in

B.A,/B.Sc./B.B.A./BSW/B.Com. LL.B (Hons.) DegreeCourse.

02.06.2012 The petitioner applied to the respondent seeking

information under Right to Information Act, for the

copy of question paper, model answer key and

petitioners OMR sheet.



6.06.2012 The Hon’ble High court of Delhi, in W. P. (C)

3675/2012 directed the respondents to upload the

CLAT 2012 question paper along with the model

answer key till 8.06.2012.

8.06.2012 Respondents uploaded the CLAT 2012 question paper with its model answer key on 8.06.2012 at about 10:30

pm.

9.06.2012 The counseling has already been started from

9.06.2012. 10th, 16th,17th, 23rd, 24th and 27th of June are

other scheduled dates for counseling

11.06.2012 Petitioner made another representation to the

respondents seeking correction of mistakes and revision

of result or re-examination.

13.06.2012 The petitioner does not have any other alternative and

efficacious remedy, hence this writ petition, invoking

the original jurisdiction of this Hon’ble court.

Filed By

( R. K. HANDOO & ASSOCIATES)

Flat # E, Front Block, Sagar Apt.

6 Tilak Marg, New Delhi-110001

PH: 23389062 (O) 23382048 (CH) 23386922 (fax)

Place- Delhi

Dated- 13.06.12

BEFORE THE HON’BLE HIGH COURT OF DELHI

AT NEW DELHI



(CIVIL EXTRAORDINARY JURISDICTION)

W. P (C) …….. / 2012

IN THE MATTER OF: –

SHIVANGI GUPTA PETITIONER

VERSUS

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

JODHPUR

THROUGH ITS REGISTRAR & Anr. RESPONDENTS

WRIT PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 226 OF THE

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA SEEKING TO CHALLENGE THE

COMMON LAW ADMISSION TEST (CLAT) 2012 IN WHICH

ANSWER TO 6 QUESTIONS ARE WRONG. THERE ARE 18

QUESTIONS WHICH ARE INCOMPLETE IN NATURE. 25

QUESTIONS ARE OUTSIDE THE PRESCRIBED SYLLABUS,

RESULTING IN DENIAL OF FAIR OPPORTUNITY TO

QUALIFY FOR ADMISSION IN NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL IN

B.A,/B.Sc./B.B.A./BSW/ B.Com. LL.B (Hons.) DEGREE

COURSE. THE PETITIONER SUBMITS THAT THE

RESPONDENTS HAVE CAUSED AN IRREPARABLE INJURY

TO THE PETITIONER AND HAVE ALREADY PROCEEDED



WITH THE COUNSELLING FROM 9.06.2012 WITHOUT

DECIDING THE REPRESENTATION MADE BY PETITIONER.

THE OMISSIONS AND MISTAKES COMMITTED BY THE

RESPONDENTS HAVE CONSIDERABLY REDUCED THE

CHANCE OF PETITIONER TO CLEAR THIS EXAM. AS THE

RESPONDENTS ARE ESCAPING FROM THEIR DUTY TO

CORRECT THE MISTAKES IN THE QUESTION PAPER THE

PETITIONER IS CONSTRAINED TO FILE THIS WRIT

PETITION, HENCE THIS WRIT PETITION.

TO,

THE HON’BLE CHIEF JUSTICE AND HIS

COMPANION JUSTICES OF THE HON’BLE

HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

THE PETITIONER HUMBLY SHOWETH:-

1. That the petitioner is a citizen of India residing at abovementioned

address. Petitioner is entitled for the protection of her fundamental

right under The Constitution of India.

2. That the petitioner appeared in the Senior Secondary School

Examination 2012 conducted by CBSE and cleared the same. A

computer generated result is annexed with this writ petition as

Annexure A-1. The petitioner being eligible, applied for Common

Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2012 advertised by the respondent and

the petitioner was given admit card with Roll No. 11611406673. The



copy of the admit card of petitioner is annexed as Annexure A-2. The

exam was conducted on 13.05.2012. The copy of the advertisement is

annexed as Annexure A-3.

3. That as per the information from brochure there are 1607 seats in

total. The break-up of the seats is 806 for General category, 144 for

S.C. and 86 for S.T. The petitioner is a general category candidate.

The break-up details of the seats is annexed as Annexure A-4.

4. That this year 2012 the All India Entrance Examination was

Conducted for 14 National Law Schools/Universities for admission to

the Undergraduate Degree Programme by the respondents National

Law University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan and the successful candidates are

to be allotted to all other National Schools/Universities as per their All

India rank in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2012.

5. That respondent is a body created under state legislation which states

that “ the object of the school shall be to advance and disseminate

learning and knowledge of the law and legal process and their role in

National Development, to develop in the student and research scholar

a sense or responsibility to serve society in the field of law by

developing skills in regard to advocacy, legal services, legislation, law

reforms and the like”.

6. That the respondent being established under a legislation, is

performing a public function and is an authority/state within the

meaning of Article 12 of Constitution of India, hence amenable to writ



jurisdiction of this Hon’ble court. That as per the rules, Common Law

Admission Test (CLAT) is conducted by National Law Schools every

year on rotation basis in sequence to their establishment. This year

Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2012 was conducted by

National Law University (NLU) Jodhpur. As per the rules the registrar

of the National Law School which is conducting the CLAT is the

convener of the exam and is under solemn duty to conduct free and

fair exam.

7. That the respondent conducted the Common Law Admission Test

(CLAT) 2012 on 13.05.2012 wherein the petitioner participated at

Delhi and respondent declared its result on 28.05.2011. In the result,

the Petitioner is shown to secured 113 marks while as the cut-off

declared by the respondent is 123. Since the marks secured by the

Petitioner were less than the cut-off declared by the Respondent,

hence the Petitioner could not qualify for admission in

B.A,/B.Sc./B.B.A./BSW/B.Com. LL.B (Hons.) Degree Course.

Petitioner has secured an All India rank of 2719. The relevant portion

of CLAT 2012 result is annexed as Annexure A-5.

8. The information brochure provided by respondents along with the

application form specified the syllabus for Common Law Admission

Test. The relevant part of syllabus is reproduced below for

convenience of this Hon’ble court:-

Pattern of the CLAT paper for entry to the undergraduate

Programme:



Total Marks 200

Total number of multiple choice questions of one

mark each

200

Duration of examination Two Hours

Subject areas with weightage:

English including comprehension 40 Marks

General Knowledge / Current Affairs 50 Marks

Elementary Mathematics ( Numerical Ability) 20 Marks

Legal Aptitude 50 Marks

Logical Reasoning 40 Marks

The relevant portion of the syllabus is as under:-

(2) General Knowledge / Current Affairs

This section will only test students on their knowledge of current

affairs (broadly defined as matters featuring in the mainstream

media between March 2011 and March 2012 )

(5) Legal Aptitude

This section will test students only on “legal aptitude”. Questions

will be framed with the help of legal propositions (described in the

paper), and a set of facts to which the said proposition has to be

applied. Some propositions may not be “true” in the real sense (e.g.

the legal proposition might be that any person who speaks in a

movie hall and disturbs others who are watching the movie will be

banned from entering any movie theatre across India for one year).

Candidates will have to assume the “truth’ of these prepositions and

answer the questions accordingly.



Candidate will not be tested on any prior knowledge of law or

legal concepts. If a technical/legal term is used in the question, that

term will be explained in the question itself. For example, if the term

Patent is used, the meaning of Patent (“a legal monopoly granted by

the government for certain kind of inventions”) will also be

explained.

TIE-BREAKING

In the event of tie between two or more candidates in the CLAT, tie

will be broken by the following procedure and order:

(i) Higher marks in the section of Legal aptitude in CLAT 2012,

(ii) Higher age and

(iii) Computerized draw of lots.

A copy of the relevant part of the syllabus is annexed as Annexure

A-6.

9. That it was to the utmost shock and surprise of the petitioner, that

respondents have asked such questions in Legal Aptitude section

which are incomplete in nature. There were questions which are out of

the syllabus. The inclusion of these questions rendered the preparation

of the petitioner as nugatory and consequently the petitioner was

handicapped to answer these questions on the basis of preparation of

the syllabus. Thus the exam conducted and the result declared is not

the true test of ability/merit but a test based on hit & trial where merit

became casuality.



10. That the petitioner submits that with a view to get the anomalies

corrected in the question paper, petitioner made a representation to the

respondents and also an application under Right to Information Act.

In the absence of any positive reply from respondents petitioner filed

a writ petition before Hon’ble Delhi High court. Consequently

thereof, the Hon’ble High court directed the respondents to upload the

question paper and model answer key. During the arguments Ld.

Counsel of the petitioner requested a stay on the counselling process

but the Hon’ble court replied that 9.06.2012 is not the only date of

counseling. 10th, 16th,17th, 23rd, 24th and 27th of June are also the

scheduled dates for counseling. A copy of the order dated 6.06.2012 is

annexed as Annexure A-7.

11. That the petitioner submits that the question paper has revealed three

types of irregularities which rendered the whole process perfunctory

and have caused great prejudice to the petitioner. CATEGORY I: in

which the questions are wrongly answered in the model answer key.

CATEGORY II: these are the questions which relates to the field of

Legal Aptitude which are incomplete in nature meaning thereby the

question paper did not supply enough information i.e. principle on the

basis of which the question is to be answered. CATEGORY III:

relates to those questions which are all out of the syllabus. The copy

of the question paper of (A) series and the answer key is collectively

marked as Annexure A-8 (Colly).

CATEGORY 1: ( QUESTIONS WRONGLY ANSWERED)



There are various questions which are wrongly answered in the model

answer key as provided by the respondents. However, petitioner is

certain to following 6 questions. These questions are reproduced

below for the kind perusal of this Hon’ble court:

QUESTION NO. 56:

Identify the Indian Tennis player who has turned Hollywood

filmmaker?

(A) Vijay Amritraj

(B) Mahesh Bhupathi

(C) Leander Paes

(D) Ashok Amritraj

Answer key suggests that the correct answer is (A) which is wrong.

The correct answer is (D).

QUESTION NO. 86:

Priyanka Chopra has been named National Ambassador of

(A) WHO

(B) UNICEF

(C) UNESCO

(D) International Red Cross Society

Answer key suggests that the correct answer is (C) which is wrong.

The correct answer is (B).

QUESTION NO. 186:

X, a married woman, agreed to live in adultery with B and also agreed

to serve him as his housekeeper. In return, B agreed to pay X Rs. 500



per month for living in adultery and Rs. 500 per month for

housekeeping. The agreement is

(A) Valid

(B) Void

(C) Void as to the first object but valid with respect to the second

object

(D) Unlawful as being opposed to public policy

Answer key suggests that the correct answer is (D) which is wrong.

The correct answer is (C). ( Illustration appended to S. 24 Indian

Contract Act)

QUESTION NO. 193:

X went to Y’s house and forgot his bag which contained 1 kg sweets.

Y’s children consumed the sweets. Decide the liability of Y.

(A) Y is bound to pay the price of sweets to X

(B) Y is not bound to pay anything

(C) Y is bound to pay half the price of sweets.

(D) Y would not have to pay anything because X loves Y’s children.

Answer key suggests that the correct answer is (B) which is wrong.

The correct answer is (A). (S. 70 Indian Contract act, Illustration A)

QUESTION NO. 197:

The Right to Equality is guaranteed by-

(A) Article 14 to 18

(B) Article 14

(c) Article 14 and 15

(D) Article 14, 15 and 16




The correct answer is (A).

QUESTION NO. 200:

In which of the following cases can a Constitutional amendment be

passed just by a simple majority in Parliament?

(A) Election matters

(B) Change in the name and boundaries of states

(C) Powers of the President

(D) None of the above


Option (B) is correct as per Article 4 of Constitution of India.

CATEGORY 2: ( LEGAL APTITUDE)

In the light of the above mentioned syllabus the petitioner submits

that the section of Legal aptitude is of great importance because the

score of this section will decide in case of Tie between two

candidates. Petitioner submits that there is a heavy deviation of

syllabus in the section by respondents. The questions asked in the

section of Legal Aptitude are incomplete in nature, either they did not

provide the principle on the basis of which the question is supposed to

be solved or they have asked such question which presupposes a deep

knowledge of law, which is not at all the purpose of this examination.

There are 18 questions which are incomplete in nature. Few of the

questions as per the (A) series are reproduced for the kind perusal of

this Hon’ble court:



QUESTION NO. 186:

X, a married woman, agreed to live in adultery with B and also agreed

to serve him as his housekeeper. In return, B agreed to pay X Rs. 500

per month for living in adultery and Rs. 500 per month for

housekeeping. The agreement is

(A) Valid

(B) Void

(C) Void as to the first object but valid with respect to the second

object

(D) Unlawful as being opposed to public policy

QUESTION NO. 187:

Ramu applied for the post of Director in an organization. The

governing body of the organization passed a resolution appointing

him to the post. After the meeting, one of the members of the

governing body informed him privately of the resolution.

Subsequently, the resolution was rescinded. Ramu claims damages.

Which one of the following is the correct legal proposition in the

case?

(A) Ramu cannot claim damages as he had not resigned from his

existing post in anticipation of getting the appointment letter

(B) Ramu cannot claim damages as there was no formal

communication

(C) Ramu can claim damages as governing body cannot rescind the

resolution once passed

(D) Ramu can claim damages as there was private communication



QUESTION NO. 189:

Z is carried off by a tiger. X fires at the tiger, knowing that the shot

might kill Z, but with no intention to kill Z, and in good faith trying to

save Z. X’s shot, however, gives Z a mortal wound. Choose the

correct option-

(A) X has committed an offence of a grievous nature.

(B) X has no moral duty to save Z therefore he can be held liable.

(C) X has not committed any offence, as the act was in good faith and

for the benefit of Z

(D) None of the above

QUESTION NO. 190:

Ms. Usha wants to file a suit against Bhagyalaxmi Theatre praying for

a permanent injunction (stay order) restraining the theatre from

running the film named “Jai Santoshi Maa”. Her contention is that the

film hurt her religious feelings and sentiments as Goddess Saraswati,

Laxmi and Parvati were depicted as jealous and were ridiculed.

(A) She cannot file a suit because injury to religious feelings is not a

legally recognized right

(B) She cannot file a suit because the Theatre has a fundamental right

to speech and expression

(C) She can file a suit as injury to religious feelings has been legally

recognized as a right (injuria sine damnum)

(D) It is a case of complete judicial discretion.

QUESTION NO. 192:



P, Q and R made a joint promise to give S a sum of Rs.3000. S

recovered the whole amount from P. Q was declared insolvent and

cannot give anything. Which statement out of the following is correct?

(A) P cannot get anything from R.

(B) P can recover Rs.1000 from R.

(C) P can recover Rs.1500 from R.

(D) P can recover Rs.2000 from R.

QUESTION NO. 193:

X went to Y’s house and forgot his bag which contained 1 kg sweets.

Y’s children consumed the sweets. Decide the liability of Y.

(A) Y is bound to pay the price of sweets to X

(B) Y is not bound to pay anything

(C) Y is bound to pay half the price of sweets.

(D) Y would not have to pay anything because X loves Y’s children.

QUESTION NO. 195:

Y makes an attempt to steal some jewels by breaking open a box and

finds, after opening the box, that there is no jewel in it. Choose the

appropriate answer.

(A) Y is not guilty of attempt to theft because the box was empty.

(B) Y is guilty of attempt to commit theft.

(C) Y is guilty of trespass.

(D) Y is not guilty of any offence.

QUESTION NO. 196:



A lady wanted to get a railway ticket but finding a crowd near the

ticket window at the station, asked Raju, who was near the window, to

get a ticket for her and handed him money for the same. Raju took the

money and instead of getting the ticket, ran away with it. What

offence has been committed by raju?

(A) No offence

(B) Criminal breach of trust

(C) Criminal misappropriation

(D) Theft

QUESTION NO. 200:

In which of the following cases can a Constitutional amendment be

passed just by a simple majority in Parliament?

(E) Election matters

(F) Change in the name and boundaries of states

(G) Powers of the President

(H) None of the above

CATEGORY 3: ( GENERAL KNOWLEDGE/CURRENT

AFFAIRS)

The respondents did not confine themselves to the syllabus and there

were several questions which neither relates to current affairs nor

falling in the period from March 2011 to March 2012 but were spread

over to the fields of Science, Geography and History. Few of the

questions as per the (A) series question paper are reproduced below

for the kind perusal of this Hon’ble court:



QUESTION NO. 43:

Whose teaching inspired the French Revolution?

(A) Rousseau

(B) Locke

(C) Hegel

(D) Wagner

QUESTION NO. 52:

Which is the largest gland in human body?

(A) Pancreas

(B) Liver

(C) Thyroid

(D) Pituitary

QUESTION NO. 54:

Which strait separates Europe from Africa

(A) Mallaica

(B) Gibralter

(C) Berring

(D) Palk

QUESTION NO. 55:

Taiwan was earlier known as

(A) Fuchow

(B) Marshall Island

(C) Formosa



(D) Macau

QUESTION NO. 59:

Excess of money supply as compared to supply of goods results in

(A) Depression

(B) Deflation

(C) Trade deficit

(D) Inflation

QUESTION NO. 60:

The largest living flightless bird is

(A) Emu

(B) Kiwi

(C) Ostrich

(D) Penguin

QUESTION NO. 61:

Which of the following oceans has the shape of the English letter ‘S’?

(A) Atlantic

(B) Pacific

(C) Indian

(D) Arctic

QUESTION NO. 62:

Which is the longest shipping canal in the world?

(A) Panama Canal

(B) Suez Canal



(C) White Sea-Baltic Canal

(D) Kiel Canal

QUESTION NO. 63:

Le Corbusier, the architect of Chandigarh was a national of

(A) Britain

(B) Portugal

(C) France

(D) Netherlands

QUESTION NO. 64:

India became a member of UNO in

(A) 1945

(B) 1947

(C) 1950

(D) 1952

QUESTION NO. 65:

To which country does India export the largest quantity of iron ore?

(A) USA

(B) Japan

(C) Egypt

(D) Germany

QUESTION NO. 66:

The longest highway in India runs from

(A) Kolkata to Jammu



(B) Shillong to Amritsar

(C) Ambala to Nagercoil

(D) Varanasi to Kanyakumari

QUESTION NO. 67:

The longest irrigation canal in India is called

(A) Upper Bari Doab Canal

(B) Indira Gandhi Canal

(C) Sirhind Canal

(D) Yamuna Canal

QUESTION NO. 7o:

The XI Five Year Plan envisaged the highest growth in the sector of

(A) Industry

(B) Agriculture

(C) Services

(D) Manufacturing

QUESTION NO. 75:

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

(MGNREGA) completed how many years of operation in 2011?

(A) 3 years

(B) 4 years

(C) 5 years

(D) 6 years

QUESTION NO. 83:

First Indian to ski to North Pole is



(A) Arun Nayyar

(B) Ajeet Bajaj

(C) Sq. Ldr. Sanjay Thapar

(D) Neal Paramjeet

QUESTION NO. 84:

First woman Director General of Police in India was

(A) Kanchan Choudhary

(B) Kavitha Choudhary

(C) Kiran Bedi

(D) Aswathy Tonge

12.That he Petitioner submits that about 50 questions including the

abovementioned questions are submitted before this Hon’ble court for

proper disposal of this writ petition. The tables below gives a quick

review of all the disputed questions:

[A] QUESTIONS WHICH ARE WRONGLY ANSWERED

SERIAL

NO.

QUESTION

PAPER

SERIES

QUESTION

NUMBER

ANSWER

AS PER

KEY

CORRECT

ANSWER

1. A 56 A D2. A 86 C B

3. A 186 D C

4. A 193 B A

5. A 197 D A

6. A 200 D B



[B] LEGAL APTITUDE

Questions which are incomplete in nature

SERIAL

NO.

QUESTION PAPER SERIES QUESTION

NUMBER

1. A 181

2. A 182

3. A 183

4. A 184

5. A 186

6. A 1877. A 188

8. A 189

9. A 190

10. A 191

11. A 192

12. A 193

13. A 194

14. A 195

15. A 19616. A 197

17. A 199

18. A 200

[C] GENERAL KNOWLEDGE/CURRENT AFFAIRS

Questions which are out of the syllabus

SERIAL

NO

QUESTION PAPER SERIES QUESTION

NUMBER

1. A 41

2. A 42



3. A 43

4. A 45

5. A 47

6. A 51

7. A 528. A 54

9. A 55

10. A 56

11. A 59

12. A 60

13. A 61

14. A 62

15. A 63

16. A 64

17. A 65

18. A 66

19. A 67

20. A 68

21. A 70

22. A 71

23. A 75

24. A 83

25. A 84

13. It is to be submitted that there are several other questions which are

not framed as per the prescribed syllabus. They are very complex

questions which requires prior knowledge of law. These questions are

Question Nos. 37, 38, 40, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159,

160, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165. That the petitioner raised her grievance before the exam conducting body through a representation

made on 11.06.2012. A copy of the representation is annexed as

Annexure A-9.



14. That it is to be submitted that the petitioner has secured 113 marks as

against a cut-off of 123 marks. Unfortunately, answers to 6 questions

are wrong and have adversely affected the merit of the petitioner

resulting in denial of a fair chance to compete in the exam. The

petitioner further submits that 25% questions are under objection, in

such circumstances it is impossible to filter the meritorious students

from all the applicants.

15. That the respondents are surprisingly escaping from their

responsibility of correcting the mistakes committed by them in the

question paper. Petitioner has made two representations but did not

receive any positive reply. Instead of self-correction, the respondents

are moving away with the problem which is to the detriment of the

petitioner.

16. It is to be submitted that the syllabus provided by the respondent is

very certain and clear. It does not lead to any controversy as to its

interpretation. It clearly reads out that what kind of questions are

likely to be asked in the examination. There is no iota of doubt that

the respondent asked some questions which were clearly incomplete

in nature or out of the syllabus. The mistake done by the respondent

has resulted in grave injustice to the petitioner and to all other

similarly situated candidates who could not qualify due to this

unfortunate act on the part of respondent.

17. That still the petitioner made her best possible attempt to answer the

questions and rest was left to the destiny because the petitioner was



helpless and was unable to do anything, as large number of the

questions were out of the syllabus. As the question paper is available

for the kind perusal of this Hon’ble court, therefore the need and

necessity has arisen for filing the present writ petition.

18. The petitioner submits that the counseling/admission has already been

started from 9.06.2012. It is to be further submitted that once the

counseling would be completed there would remain no seats for the

petitioner and all other similarly situated candidates. This will cause

an irreparable injury to the petitioner which could not be compensated

in money and is flagrant violation of fundamental right of the

petitioner.

19. It is humbly submitted that there is no alternative efficacious remedy

available except to pray for equity before this Hon’ble court as the

petitioner has been confronted with a question paper which was

incomplete, incorrect and out of the syllabus. It is further submitted

that instead of conducting the screening test respondent has carried

out elimination test. That under these circumstances the petitioner has

no remedy except to approach this Hon’ble court for setting right the

anomalies and to seek appropriate directions for the declaration of

fresh result.

G R O U N D S

A. Because the exclusion of the petitioner and others similarly situated as

like the petitioner is contrary to the rule of equity, justice and fairness.



It is a mistake which has far reaching consequences and needed to be

corrected at the earliest.

B. Because these type of mistakes will have negative impact on the noble

profession of Advocacy. In consequence of which CLAT will loose its

credibility.

C. Because the syllabus provided by the respondent is very definite and

gives no idea that there could be a deviation from it. Syllabus clearly

states that there will not be any question which presupposes a prior

knowledge of law but unfortunately respondents have asked several

questions which involves exhaustive study of law. Syllabus explains

that there will be questions from current affairs only and spread over

for one year from March 2011 to March 2012 but questions outside

this span of time are being asked in the question paper. It leaves no

room for any question from the subjects like the questions which

petitioner has mentioned in this petition.

D. Because this Hon’ble court has categorically held in the case of Sujit

Saurabh v. High Court of Delhi & Anr, W.P. (c) 8028/2008 that the

entrance test should be confined to the syllabus provided by the exam

conducting body. The relevant portion of the judgment is reproduced

below for convenience:

“we are of the opinion that the use of the word ‘and’ contradicts the

submission raised on behalf of the High Court of Delhi. Furthermore,

keeping in view the number of statutes mentioned in the instructions,

prima facie it would suggest that questions will be asked from within



these statutes alone. Otherwise the comparatively comprehensive or

extensive enumeration would become otiose. After hearing Ld. Counsel

for the parties we direct that 26 questions, which all the Ld. Counsels

for the parties agree were beyond the syllabus, will stand deleted”.

Hence the question paper beyond syllabus renders the result void ab

initio.

E. Because again this Hon’ble Court has specifically held in the case of

Gunjan Sinha Jain v. Registrar General, High Court of Delhi.

W.P. (C) 449/2012 that syllabus for competitive examinations should

be strictly followed. The relevant portion of the judgment is

reproduced below for convenience:

75. “ In view of the above discussion, the questions would fall into

three categories. The first being those questions where the answers

reflected in the Answer Key are correct. This category would include

all those questions which have not been discussed above (i.e., questions

in respect of which there was no challenge at the hearing) and

those questions in respect of which the answers shown in the Answer

Key have been found to be correct by us. The second category

comprises of those questions in respect of which the option shown

to be correct in the Answer Key is incorrect and instead another

option as determined above is correct. The third category of questions

covers (1) questions out of syllabus; (2) questions in respect of which

the answer in the Answer Key is debatable; (3) questions in respect of

which there are more than one correct option; (4) questions in respect



of which none of the options is correct; and (5) questions which are

confusing or do not supply complete information for a clear answer.

76. “As regards the first category, no change in the Answer Key is

required. The Answer Key in respect of the second category of

questions would have to be corrected and the OMR answer sheets

would have to be re-evaluated. Insofar as the third category is

concerned, questions falling in this category would have to be

removed from the purview of the examination”.

F. Because it is the cardinal principle that meritorious student should be

declared qualified in entrance examinations but unfortunately due to

the mistake committed by the respondent, best candidates could not

qualify as the entire selection process became a matter of luck and

chance.

G. Because the anomalies seem to affect a large number of candidates

who had prepared for the examination as per the well defined syllabus,

petitioner seeks transparency in the selection process. It will have a

negative impact on the future prospects of the candidates.

H. Because asking questions beyond syllabus is arbitrary and illegal in as

much as normal candidates would prepare as per syllabus and failed

while as favoured few would prepare general knowledge questions of

History, Geography or Science of antiquity to qualify. Because the

respondent was entrusted to conduct an entrance exam for one of the

finest institutions for legal studies in the country, it was its pious duty



to draft specific, pinpointed and clear question paper but unfortunately

it has failed miserably.

20. The petitioner craves leave to add, alter or amend any of the grounds

at the time of submission before this Hon’ble court.

21. The petitioner does not have any equally efficacious alternative

remedy available except to approach this Hon’ble court through this

writ petition.

22. The petitioner has not filed any other writ in this court or in any other

court including the Supreme Court of India.

Prayer:

In the circumstances as stated above it is humbly prayed that this Hon’ble

court may be pleased to:-

a) issue appropriate writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ,

direction or order, directing the respondent to revise the result

after correcting the wrong answers and deleting the questions which

were incomplete in nature and out of the syllabus and to prepare a

fresh result after setting right the anomalies and/or

b) issue appropriate writ, order or direction quashing the entire entrance

examination result and to conduct a fresh examination after strictly

following the syllabus.



c) issue appropriate direction to restrain the respondent from proceeding

further with the counseling process till the pendency of the writ

petition.

d) Any other relief which this Hon’ble court may deem fit.

Prayed accordingly

PETITIONER

Through

COUNSEL

Place- Delhi ( R. K. HANDOO & ASSOCIATES)

Dated- 13.06.12 Flat # E, Front Block, Sagar Apt.

6 Tilak Marg, New Delhi-110001

PH: 23389062 (O) 23382048 (CH)

23386922 (fax)

Documents

Shivangi Gupta v NLU Jodhpur & Anr