The Allahabad High Court has stayed an order directing revision of the CLAT-UG 2026 merit list. The earlier ruling had asked the Consortium of NLUs to correct the answer key and recalculate ranks. Counselling will continue as per the existing list.

CLAT 2026: The Allahabad High Court has put on hold a recent order that had directed a complete revision of the CLAT-UG 2026 merit list, bringing temporary relief to thousands of candidates awaiting further rounds of counselling, according to the media reports.

A Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court on February 20 stayed an earlier single-judge order that had asked the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) to correct errors in the final answer key and re-calculate ranks for all candidates.

This is in the wake of concerns that re-preparing the merit list at this stage may result in a substantial disruption to the ongoing admission process.

What is the case all about?

Avneesh Gupta, an aspirant for CLAT 2026, approaching the court with a complaint that his objections to some questions had not been properly dealt with before the final answer key was released. Gupta contended that some mistakes in the final answer key had impacted his rank and, by extension, his prospects of getting admission into his desired law college.

After hearing the case, a single judge of the court had earlier ordered the Consortium of National Law Universities to make good the disputed answers, prepare the ranks of all candidates afresh, and then prepare the CLAT 2026 merit list for future counseling sessions.

This had sparked fears of massive changes in the ranks, which could affect thousands of candidates who had already appeared for counseling sessions.

What’s the outcome?

However, contesting the single judge order, the Consortium claimed that any change in the merit list at this juncture would distrub the entire process of admissions. Noticing these points, the Division Bench stayed the earlier order, thus halting the process of change at least for now.

As a result of the stay, the present merit list is valid. The Consortium is expected to announce updated counselling dates shortly, as the schedule had been put in uncertainty following the initial order.

For students, the development means the admission process will continue without immediate recalculation of ranks, until the court delivers a final verdict. Candidates have been advised to keep track of official updates on the Consortium’s website.