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“Eligibility Isn’t Suitability” - Delhi HC Halts NHAI CLAT PG Recruitment
The Delhi High Court has put a stay on the National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI) recruitment notification dated August 11, 2025. The recruitment notification had termed CLAT PG 2022 exam has the eligibility criteria for hiring lawyers. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela held that the CLAT PG scores cannot be adopted as the basis of public employment. Furthermore, the court observed that the CLAT PG exam is merely an eligibility standard for higher studies in law, and it cannot be termed as a suitability criterion for public employment. The decision came after advocate Shannu Baghel filed a writ petition challenging NHAI’s recruitment notification.
NHAI’s recruitment notification for Young Professionals (Legal)
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) issued a recruitment notification on August 11, inviting applications for the post of Young Professional (Legal). The notification was published for the recruitment of a total of 44 posts. Candidates who appeared for the CLAT PG 2022 exam were invited to fill out the application forms. Apart from CLAT PG 2022, candidates who appeared for the exam in 2023, 2024 or 2025 were also eligible to apply. The recruitment was ona contract basis.
NHAI’s recruitment challenged in Delhi HC
Soon after the notification, advocate Shannu Baghel challenged NHAI’s notification in the Delhi High Court. Baghel contended that the recruitment notification from NHAI mentions the CLAT PG exam has eligibility criteria which is arbitrary and violative of constitutional guarantees of equality under Articles 14 and 16. The petitioner further argued that the criterion of appearing CLAT PG exam restricted equally or more meritorious students who did not appear for the CLAT PG exam in the recruitment process.
Delhi High Court stays NHAI’s Recruitment
The division bench of the Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela in the Delhi High Court put a stay on NHAI’s recruitment process for Young Professional (Legal). While passing the decision, the bench said, “This criterion is absolutely vague for the reason that as per the said criteria even if a candidate has secured Zero or Nil marks on his appearance in CLAT (PG) examination, he shall be eligible, whereas if a candidate has not appeared in the CLAT (PG) examination, he shall be ineligible.”
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Download EBookFurthermore, the court said, “Because certain other organisations, including the public sector undertakings, have been adopting CLAT (PG) score as a basis for offering employment, it is not a justification… for the NHAI to prescribe the impugned recruitment criteria.” The division bench concluded the judgment by saying, “In view of the reasons given and discussions made above, we are fully convinced that the impugned ‘recruitment criteria’ where selection for appointment to the post in question is to be made on the basis of merit in CLAT (PG) score – 2022 onwards, is legally not tenable being hit by Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.”
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With a rank of 3917 in CLAT PG, your best options for an LLM include top private universities that accept CLAT scores, along with CUETPG opportunities. Some of the best non-NLU options are BHU, LPU Jalandhar, UPES Dehradun, etc.
Hello there,
Having a 15000 general rank and 1740 as your SC category rank, your chances of securing a seat are very low. As per the previous trends, it is a direct no for you to get into the top-tier NLUs since the closing general rank is around 1500-3000. If
With a CLAT PG rank of 1257 in the SC category and being a woman candidate with Rajasthan domicile, you do have a realistic chance of securing admission to several National Law Universities, though the top NLUs may be difficult at this rank. Admission chances depend heavily on category-wise cut-offs,
With a CLAT PG rank of around 11,000, getting admission into the top National Law Universities (NLUs) is not likely, as their general category cut-offs usually close much earlier. However, you still have realistic chances in lower-ranked and newer NLUs, especially in the later rounds of CLAT counselling or through
Hello,
Here is your CLAT 2026 Rank-Wise College List - Available NLUs in your rank range. I am providing you the link. Kindly open and check it out.
https://law.careers360.com/articles/clat-2026-rank-wise-college-list
I hope it will help you. For any further query please let me know.
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