CLAT Counselling 2025 (Dec 11): First Merit List (Dec 26), Fees, Admission Process & Grievance filing

CLAT 2025 Counselling Registration will begin from December 11, 2024. The Consortium will release the CLAT first allotment list 2025 on December 26, 2024. CLAT 2025 counselling registration process will end on December 20, 2024. Candidates can 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. 

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. 

Candidates can check the NLU-wise CLAT merit list by following the below steps:

Step 1: Visit CLAT official website

Step 2: Navigate to ‘Notifications’ section

Step 3: Click on ‘CLAT 2025 Allotment List’ link

Step 4: View and download the CLAT allotment list 2025

Candidates must note that they can appear for CLAT Counselling 2025 only if there name is there in the merit list. CLAT counselling will be conducted in online mode. Candidates must appear for the counselling to get admission to one of the NLUs in the country.

Candidates must keep the copy of CLAT Admit Card safely until the whole CLAT admission process is over. The admit card is a mandatory document that one must not forget to carry to the exam center on the day of exam. Candidates who fail to carry their admit card were not allowed to appear for the exam.  Candidates should keep their admit card even after the exam is over. The admit card will be required for the counselling process as part of important documents. Therefore, candidates must keep the original copy of admit card that they carried with them on the day of examination. They should not tamper it or write anything on it as it will be verified during the counselling process. 

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 2025 Seat Intake has not been changed, however, CLAT 2025 reservation criteria has been revised for Gandhinagar National Law University (GNLU), Silvassa. CLAT has 2522 seats for undergraduate courses. These seats have been divided as per the candidate's category.

As per the revised GNLU reservation criteria, the Domicile Reservation Category has been included for candidates residing in the Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Union territories. All those candidates who are looking forward to appearing for UG and PG courses must go to official website of CLAT 2025 portal and update the reservation category accordingly.

The documents listed by the CLAT Consortium for the candidates when taking part in CLAT counselling process are as mentioned below: CLAT 2025 Admit Card CLAT 2025 Scorecard CLAT 2025 Application Form Other documents mandatory for UG courses: Class 10 Marksheet Class 12 Marksheet Character Certificate/Conduct Certificate from the Educational Institution last attended Caste Certificate (SC, ST, OBC, etc. ). If applied and allotted under the Reserved category of seats PwD/SAP Certificate if applied and allotted under the PwD category/ Specially-Able Certificate (If applicable) Any other supporting documents to claim a seat for the category they have applied for example - Wards of Serving/Retired Defense Personnel, EWS Certificate Sons/daughters of Ex-servicemen/Defense service personnel etc. ) NRI Certificate (If applicable) Sponsored NRI Certificate (If applicable) Domicile Certificate (If applicable) Other documents mandatory for PG courses: LL.B. /B. L. /Equivalent Degree Statement of Marks Transfer/Migration Certificate from the Educational Institution last attended Caste Certificate (If applicable) Specially-Able Certificate (If applicable) NRI Certificate (If applicable) Sponsored NRI Certificate (If applicable) Domicile Certificate (If applicable) Any other supporting documents to claim a seat for the category under which they have applied (Ex: Wards of Serving/Retired Defense Personnel, EWS Certificate Sons/daughters of Ex-servicemen/Defense service personnel etc.

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.

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.

If you go through the pattern of CLAT exam, you will see that it is mostly general and does not involve any difficult subject. If you have basic understanding of English and have some interest in reading news and Current Affairs you are ready for two sections. The most challenging part, for most students, is Mathematics. However, it is of elementary standard and does not require special knowledge. If you did well in Math in class X, you have an edge. Only section that needs special preparation is legal aptitude. Most class XII students do not have idea about law. If you start in time and join coaching classes for help, you can get a hold of the basics in no time. 
So, we can say that CLAT is easy if you have basic knowledge of topics involved and you are prepared for some hard work to hone your skills further.

CLAT is one of the highly competitive law exams and is considered to be one of the toughest exams to clear. However, aspirants should not worry, as with the right preparation and attitude you can definitely ace in the CLAT exam. The toppers of CLAT have suggested that aspirants should trust NCERT books and a habit to read newspaper daily to crack the exam. The difficulty level of CLAT paper is usually moderate. For complete insights on CLAT paper difficulty level, check analysis for current and previous years above. 

Aspirants who are preparing for the CLAT Exam should have a clear idea about a good CLAT score. CLAT is a very competitive exam and candidates need to score high to clear the cutoff. All those candidates who are appearing for the CLAT are advised to check out the previous year's CLAT cutoff scores and get a fair idea of the trends that are being followed by the NLUs in the country.  A score above 100 is definitely considered as a good score for CLAT Exam. Candidates must note that the expected CLAT cutoff score for NLUSIU Bangalore is 100 plus, whereas, for NLU Kolkata, NLU Jodhpur and NLU Bhopal, the expected score is between 94 to 98. Candidates who wish to take admission into NALSAR Hyderabad they need to score between 98 to 100. 

The NLU fees vary as per the course and college chosen by the candidate. However, the average fee of NLUs for UG courses ranges from INR 1.8-2.8 Lacs and for PG programme ranges from INR 80,000 to 2.18 Lacs. The fee structure for the first year at NLUs comprises of: Tuition fee Admission fee Infrastructure and development fee Library, ID card, examination fee, basic amenities fees Sports, gym, medical, internet, electricity, moot court charges Hostel facilities, mess deposit Know the NLU-wise fee structure through CLAT 2025 here - https://www.shiksha.com/law/articles/nlu-fees-structure-blogId-31829.

Candidates can apply for CLAT 2025 counselling by registering themselves on the official website through link provided in their application dashboard. Moreover, they need to follow the instructions for counselling as under: Step 1 : Login to apply for counselling process, fill the preferences, and upload the documents for verification Step 2: Check the seat allotment list when released, and login to freeze/ float/ exit the counselling process Step 3: By paying the counselling fee of INR 20,000, and INR 30,000, as per the category, candidates can secure their seat.

At the moment, there are a total of 24 NLUs that are participating institutes of CLAT 2025 counselling. The seat intake for all the courses offered at NLUs has been revised as under: For the five-year LL.B. - The integrated law programme is offered by all the 24 NLUs, with the seat intake standing at 3,213 seats. For the one-year LL. M. - The programme is offered by 21 NLUs, which have a combined intake of 1,217 seats. In 2024, total 4,009 seats were available, out of which 3,012 seats are available for UG courses and 997 seats are available for PG course admissions. Know in detail about NLU-wise Courses and Seat Intake here - https://www.shiksha.com/law/articles/nlus-in-india-blogId-23517.

Pass / fail concept is not applicable in CLAT because if you do not secure a rank to qualify for the 2600+ seats, you simply do not make it to an NLU. For most students being successful in CLAT means securing a seat in the top five National Law Schools in India, which has a total of less than five hundred seats. When you prepare for CLAT understand why you want to pursue it. Once you are sure of your goal, use all the help you can get (study materials, mocks, books, old question papers) and then put in hard work to get into the top 5 NLUs. Most of the colleges or universities that offer courses in law have their own entrance examinations. One of the most recognised examinations is CLAT which stands for the Common Law Entrance Test. The test score of CLAT is accepted by major universities as well as law colleges in India. There are multiple universities from where you can do 5-year LL.B. 

All those candidates who will be mentioning their cast during the application form submission must note that they will require to submit the common reservation or category certificates required during CLAT counseling include: 1. Caste Certificate: - Candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), or Other Backward Classes (OBC) need to provide a valid caste certificate.