Understanding various concepts of law plays a crucial role in qualifying for the CLAT LLM entrance exam. 

To score well in the upcoming exam, you should be aware of the impact of such significant landmark judgments and the rationale behind them.

This article will take you through sample Landmark Judgement Questions For CLAT PG 2023, recent judgments, and more.

How to Identify Important Recent Judgments for CLAT PG 2023?

Thousands of judgments are filed each year. There is no hard-and-fast rule that previous year judgments could not be asked.

In such a scenario, you should be able to identify the essential judgments to read from an exam perspective.

The following are some of the tips that will help you identify important recent judgments for the CLAT PG 2023 exam.

• Not every recent judgment is important - You should not mug up all the recent judgments. Realization and identifying what not to study is also equally important
• Benches of the judgments - Generally, constitution bench judgments of 3 or more bench judgments are also important. Single or two bench judgments are rarely more significant. There are, however, certain exceptions.
• Recent Judgements related to important subjects as mentioned in the syllabus are more significant because they are directly connected to the syllabus. For instance, Constitutional law, family law, criminal law, etc.
• Topics like arbitration law, CPC is not essentially part of the syllabus, thus judgments related to these topics are unlikely to appear in the exam.
• Take help from learned mentors, friends, etc to save your time while preparing for the examination.

List of Landmark Judgements for CLAT PG 2023

The following are some of the important landmark judgments that you need to focus on to enhance your CLAT PG preparation.

These Hon’ble Supreme Court judgments are very important to have a better understanding of the Constitution of our country. 

• Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum(1985 )

Significance: Extended Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code to provide maintenance to a divorced Muslim woman.

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• C. Mehta v Union of India (1986)

Significance: Laid down the principle of absolute liability.

• Mohini Jain v State of Karnataka (1992)

Significance: Laid down that right to education is an integral part of the right to life.

• Indira Sawhney v Union of India (1992)

Significance: Upheld the implementation of the recommendations of the Mandal Commission Report. It defined the “creamy layer” and mentioned that reservations could not exceed 50% of the total available seats.

• R. Bommai v Union of India (1994)

Significance: Laid down guidelines to prevent misuse of Article 356 (related to President’s rule) of the Constitution.

• Rajgopal v State of Tamil Nadu (1994)

Significance: Laid down that the right to privacy is implicit in the right to life and liberty guaranteed to the citizens of this country by Article 21. It mentioned that the right to privacy is a ‘right to be let alone'.

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• Sarla Mudgal v Union of India (1995)

Significance:  Laid down the principles against the practice of solemnizing second marriage by conversion to Islam, with the first marriage not being dissolved. It highlighted the need for a uniform civil code.

• Vishakha v State of Rajasthan (1997)

Significance: Laid down the basic definitions of sexual harassment at the workplace and formulated the Vishakha guidelines to deal with such harassment.

• Samatha v State of Andhra Pradesh (1997)

Significance: Laid down that government land, tribal land, and forest land in scheduled areas could not be leased to non-tribals or private companies for mining or industrial operations.

• Chairman, Railway Board v. Chandrima Das (2000)

Significance: Laid down that right to life is also available to non-citizens of India who visit India for tourism or otherwise.

• A. Inamdar v State of Maharashtra (2005)

Significance: The Supreme Court stated that “neither the policy of reservation can be enforced by the state nor any quota of admissions is carved out in private educational institutions”.

• Om Prakash v Dil Bahar (2005)

Significance: Held that a rape accused could be convicted on the sole evidence of the victim, even if medical evidence did not prove rape.

• Trimex International Ltd v Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (2010)

Significance: Held that once a contract is concluded orally or in writing, the mere fact that a formal contract has not been prepared by the parties doesn’t affect either the acceptance of the contract so entered into or implementation thereof.

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• Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v Union of India (2011)

Significance: Issued guidelines for allowing passive euthanasia.  

• Lily Thomas v Union of India (2013)

Significance: Ruled that any Member of Parliament, Member of the Legislative Assembly, or Member of a Legislative Council, convicted of a crime with more than two-year sentence will be disqualified as an elected representative on the date of conviction.

• People’s Union for Civil Liberties v Union of India (2013) 

Significance: Directed the Election commission to introduce - None of the above options on EVMs and ballot papers so that people could choose to register a negative vote too in the election.

• Supreme Court Advocates on Record v Union of India (2015)

Significance: Struck down National Judicial Appointment Commission Act and 99th Constitutional Amendment as unconstitutional and void.

• NALSA V. Union of India

The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India affirmed the constitutional rights and freedom of the transgender and recognized them as the third gender.

• Shreya Singhal v. Union of India

The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act (IT Act) which violated freedom of speech and expression, declaring it to be unconstitutional.

Questions based on Landmark Judgement for CLAT PG 2023

To help you get an idea about the type of question asked based on landmark judgments, we have provided a few sample questions for your reference.

These questions are curated from the previous year's question papers for the CLAT PG exam.

Q) In which landmark case does the Supreme Court hold that the Second marriage of a Hindu man is invalid even if he converts to Islam before marriage?

a. Daniel Latiffi vs. Union of India

b. Sarla Mudgal vs. Union of India

c. Roopa Hurrah vs. Ashok Hurrah.

d. Ramchandra Saraswati vs. Neena Bajpai

Ans. Option B

Q) In which landmark case does the Supreme Court of India holds that the power of judicial review vested in the High court under Art.226 and the right to move the Supreme Court under Art.32 is an integral and essential feature of the Constitution?

a. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India

b.Sajjan Singh v. the State of Rajasthan

c. Keshavnanada Bharti vs. Union of India

d. Sheela Barse v. Union of India

Ans. Option A

Q) In which Landmark case Fundamental Rights were considered as Inviolable parts of the Indian Constitution?

a. Golak Nath vs. the State of Punjab

 b. Keshavnanada Bharti vs. Union of India

c. S.R Bommai V. Union of India

d. Prem Singh v. the State of Haryana

Ans. Option A

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Q) In which Landmark legal case does the Supreme Court hold that Parliament has the right to amend the Fundamental Rights enshrined in the Constitution?
a. Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan
b. Minera Mills v. Union of India
c. Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab
d. Shankari Prasad v. Union of India

Ans. Option D

Q) In which landmark legal case it was held that the preamble is not a part of the Indian Constitution?

a. Berubari Union(I), Re

b. Keshavnanada Bharti v. State of Kerala

c. S.R Bommai v. Union of India

d. T.M.A Pai v. Union of India

Ans. Option A

Q) Which of the following case decided by the Supreme Court is related to ‘mental cruelty

a. Rooplal v Kartaro

b. Sayal v Sarla

c. Dastane v Dastane

d. None of the above

Ans. Option D

Q) Muhammad Afzal v Ghulam Kasim (1903) ILR 843 is a leading case on which of the following?

a. Doctrine of election

b. The doctrine of holding over

c. The rule against perpetuity

d. None of the above

Ans. Option a

Q) S.R. Bommai v Union of India, JT 1994 (2) SC 215 is related to

a. President Rule in State under Article 356

b. National Emergency under Article 352

c. Financial Emergency

d. None of the above

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Ans. Option a

Q) The NJAC Act was declared unconstitutional in

a. Sakal Chand v Union of India

b. S P Gupta v Union of India

c. SC Adv on Record Association v Union of India

d. In re Presidential reference of 1998

Q) The case relating to Parliamentary Privileges is

a. Keshav Singh v Speaker of The UP Assembly

b. Maneka Gandhi v Union of India

c. Minerva Mills v Union of India

d. A K Gopalan v Union of India

Ans. Option a

Q) The case of Unnikrishnan v State of Andhra Pradesh deals with which of the following rights?

a. Right to Education

b. Right to go abroad

c. Right to Privacy

d. None of the above

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Ans. Option a

Q) The case of State of Bihar v Kameshwar Singh is related to which of the following doctrines?

a. Doctrine of Eclipse

b. The doctrine of Basic Structure

c. Doctrine of Colourable Legislation

d. The doctrine of Pith and Substance

Ans. Option c

Q) Principle of Vicarious Liability was the first time decided in the case of

a. R v Tolson

b. R v Huggins

c. R v Stephenson

d. R v Prince

Ans. Option b

Q) The case of KM Nanavati v State of Maharashtra is related to

a. Dacoity

b. Grave and Sudden Provocation

c. Theft

d. Abatement

Ans. Option b

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Q) The case of R v Dudley and Stephen is related to the defense of

a. Necessity

b. Insanity

c. Mistake of fact

d. None of the above

Ans. Option b

Q) Dhulabhai v State of MP is related to which of the following under CPC?

a. Interim Orders

b. Jurisdiction of Civil Court

c. First Appeals

d. Pleadings

Ans. Option b