CLAT 2025 Counselling Important Documents, NLUs Seat matrix, Mandatory Instructions

CLAT 2025 Counselling Registration is now over. Candidates could complete CLAT 2025 Counselling Registration until December 20, 2024 (10 pm). The Consortium will release the CLAT first allotment list 2025 on December 26, 2024. Candidates could register for counselling before the deadline. The consortium has also published the dates for announcement of merit list of various rounds. CLAT 2025 Counselling will be conducted in five rounds.  Know more about it here - https://www.shiksha.com/law/clat-exam-counselling.

The Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) will conduct CLAT 2025 counselling in online mode. The whole counselling process for CLAT is conducted in online mode. Candidates have to register online to participate in the counselling. Eligible candidates who qualify the exam can register on the official website for the counselling. After that, they have to pay fee to complete the registration process. After registration, candidates have to declare choices for college and course seeking admission into. 

The counselling fee for CLAT 2025 is INR 30,000 for general/OBC category, and INR 20,000, for SC/ST/OBC/BC/EWS/PWD categories. The CLAT counselling fee can only be paid in online mode on the official website of the law entrance exam. The counselling fee candidate need to pay as a token amount against their allotted seat to secure it. After this, candidates will be required to pay the remaining fee against their course, which is the tuition fee+ non-refundable charges+ refundable charges and more. In case, candidates choose to withdraw / exit from their allotted after they freeze/ float, and have paid the counselling fee, then they will get a refund of their amount after deduction of INR 5,000 from it. However, full amount will be refunded only in case when the candidate did not freeze/ float their allotted seat.

During CLAT counselling, candidates will be provided the option to choose from three options; i.e. freeze, float and exit. Candidates can understand all options below:

Freeze Option: In case a candidate is happy with the seat alloted to him/her then they can freeze it. With this they won't be allowed to appear in the further rounds of counselling. If a candidate freezes the seat, it means that the candidate is confirming their seat at the allotted National Law University (NLU).

Float Option: If a candidate is not happy with the seat allotted to them and wants to pariticpate in further rounds of counselling they can select the float option. This option mean that candidate is accepting the seat allotted to them but is willing to pariticpate in further rouns of counselling for a better college. Candidate must note that in case they choose the float option and is allotted a seat in the next round then the seat allotted in the previous round will be forfeited.

Exit Option: During the counselling process, if a candidate feels that they don't want to pariticipate further, then they may choose an option to exit. If they choose this option, it means that they are withdrawing from the counselling process and they will not be considered for further round of counselling. 

The counselling process of CLAT 2025 is a centralized seat allotment process for all the participating National Law Universities (NLUs). Therefore, the counselling is a standardized process as under: Step 1: Candidates who appeared for CLAT 2025 and secured above minimum cutoff marks, will be required to register for the centralized counselling process once the CLAT Consortium opens the window. Step 2: For registration, candidates will be required to login into their account, and fill their preferences and upload their documents and get it verified. Step 3: The counselling authority publishes a merit list for each round with the seat allotment results, and candidates who are listed can reserve/ secure their seat by completing admission formalities such as 'Freeze' and pay the admission fee as per their category. Step 4: Candidates who do like their seat allotment can apply for upgrade by selecting float option. And those who wish to exit the counselling process, can do so by selecting exit option. Step 5: Candidates who successfully secure the seat will be issued provisional admission letter and schedule for joining the college.

The CLAT Consortium will conduct at least five rounds of seat allotment for CLAT 2025. Before each round, the consortium will share the seat allotment list for the remaining seats. In case there are still seats vacant after the fifth round, the counselling mop-up round will be held at institute level. In CLAT 2024 as well, there were total of five CLAT seat allotment rounds until all seats at the participating NLUs were secured by candidates.

Yes, candidates can withdraw their admission from the allotted seat at any NLU at any stage of counselling process. However, if they choose to withdraw from their allotted seat, they need to do it in the next round of counselling or as per the given schedule, INR 5,000 will be deducted from the counselling fee for blocking the seat and putting the awaiting candidates at disadvantage.