The Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) has resumed the CLAT 2026 counselling after the Allahabad High Court judgment. Subsequently, the dates for the fourth and fifth merit lists have been announced. There are no changes to the merit lists following the May 08 judgment. The fourth merit list, which was originally scheduled for May 2, will now be published on May 09.
Once the allotments are announced, students will be required to exercise freeze, float or exit options depending on their preference. While the freeze options effectively lock the seat, the float option, while claiming the allotted seat, keeps the window open for better opportunities.
Candidates who exercise such options will be required to pay a confirmation fee to the Consortium of NLUs and university fees, after adjusting the confirmation fee, to the allotted NLU. The fourth round of counselling will be completed on May 14.
This will be followed by the fifth and final round of central counselling. It starts from May 20, with the announcement of fresh allotments to fill the vacancies arising after the conclusion of the fourth round of admissions. This round does not offer a float option — only freeze and exit options are available. The central counselling under the CLAT Consortium will conclude on May 30.
Particulars | Schedule |
02:00 p.m. on May 09, 2026 | |
Payment of confirmation fee to Consortium for freeze and float options and admission by NLUs for the fourth allotment list | 02:00 p.m. on May 09, 2026 to 02:00 p.m. on May 14, 2026 |
Publication of fifth and final allotment list (Fifth round of counselling starts) | 10:00 a.m. on May 20, 2026 |
Payment of confirmation fee to Consortium for freeze option and admission by NLUs for the fifth and final allotment list | 10:00 a.m. on May 20, 2026 to 02:00 p.m. on May 25, 2026 |
Payment of university fee (after adjusting for confirmation fee and counselling registration fee) to concerned NLU for all candidates who have chosen the freeze option in the counselling process of fourth & fifth allotment lists | May 30, 2026 by 5:00 p.m. |
Even after five rounds of CLAT counselling, several NLUs face unfilled seats, either due to students withdrawing their admissions or rejecting the allotment offer. This initiates the process of spot admissions in NLUs. While top-tier NLUs have higher competition and seats are filled easily, the newer NLUs face rejections, leading to multiple rounds of spot admissions. NLUs such as MNLU Nagpur, NLU Assam, HNLU, RMNLU, GNLU Silvassa, HPNLU Shimla, NLU Tripura and RPNLU Prayagraj are likely to see multiple mop-up admissions based on past admission trends. Admissions in these rounds are more relaxed, offering opportunities to students who missed out on the central allotments.
On Question asked by student community
Yes, you can switch from one college to another to a CLAT college through the entrance test. However, it is important to note that you will have to start from year 1 rather than transferring directly into the second or third year. Some of the top
CLAT participating colleges
here.
Here you can check out the top
NLUs offering admission into 3-year LLB
with and without CLAT exam:
1. NLSIU Bengaluru for LLB programme through NLSAT.
2. NLU Odisha and NLU Visakhapatnam offer admission into the 3-year LLB course through their own admission process.
3. CNLU Patna
Yes, for CLAT preparation, building a reading habit daily is a good approach. You can read the daily newspapers like The Hindu and The Indian Express. While going for Animal Farm by George Orwell, Word power Made Easy by Norma Lewis for novel comprehension.
Yes, you can elevate your law entrance journey with Careers360’s CLAT mock test PDF free download link given below:
https://law.careers360.com/articles/clat-mock-test
The CLAT 2027 application form will open in the first week of August 2026. While the exam will be held on the first or second Sunday of December 2026.
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