Jindal Global Law School Admissions 2026
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All 24 National Law Universities (NLUs) participating in CLAT 2026 are offering domicile reservation in 5-year LLB and one-year LLM courses. There is no uniformity in domicile reservation. Some NLUs reserve 25% of their total intake for domicile students, while others have 50-73% of their seats for this category. It is also noteworthy that the definition of the “domicile category” varies from university to university. Students applying under this category should make it a point to read and understand the criteria given by the university before filling out the CLAT application form.
The state quota or domicile reservation in NLUs aims to provide benefits to the students of the state where the university is located. National Law Universities (NLUs), despite carrying “national” in their name, are state universities established by Acts passed by various state governments. They often follow state reservation policies, including those related to seat reservation. However, the reservation policies of states are not uniform, which means some NLUs, with over 70% state quota, are highly regional, while others with 25-30% state quota are more accessible to all-India students.
There are at least 12 NLUs that reserve 50% or more seats under the state quota. Among NLUs participating in CLAT 2026, National Law Universities in Maharashtra — MNLU Mumbai, MNLU Nagpur and MNLU Aurangabad reserve around 62-72% of seats. However, this reservation is not extended to Maharashtra general category students. These students compete with all-India category students for the remaining seats. Similarly, the newly established RPNLU Prayagraj reserves 60% of total seats for students of Uttar Pradesh. NLU Bhopal, Ranchi and Patna have 50% seats reserved under the state quota.
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NLU Name | CLAT UG 2026 | CLAT PG 2026 |
NLSIU Bengaluru | 25% + 10 additional seats | 25% |
NALSAR Hyderabad | 25% | 25% |
NLIU Bhopal | 50% | 50% |
WBNUJS Kolkata | 31% (BA LLB Hons.)28% (BSc LLB Hons) | 30% |
NLU Jodhpur | 25% | 25% |
HNLU Raipur | 50% | N/A |
GNLU Gandhinagar | 25% | 25% |
GNLU Silvassa | 25% | 25% |
RMLNLU Lucknow | 52% | 70% |
RGNUL Patiala | 10% | N/A |
CNLU Patna | 50% | 50% |
NUALS Kochi | 49% | 49% |
NLU Odisha | 25% | 25% |
NUSRL Ranchi | 50% | 50% |
NLUJ Assam | 48% | 50% |
DSNLU Visakhapatnam | 48% | 48% |
TNNLU Trichy | 50% | 50% |
MNLU Mumbai | 73% | 66% |
MNLU Nagpur | 63% | 62% |
MNLU Aurangabad | 72% | 72% |
HPNLU Shimla | 30% | 25% |
DNLU Jabalpur | 50% | 50% |
DBRANLU Sonepat | 25% | 25% |
NLU Tripura | 48% | 25% |
RPNLU Prayagraj | 60% | 60% |
Source: consortiumofnlus.ac.in
Unlike admission eligibility in CLAT 2026, which is common across all NLUs, the domicile eligibility has remained uneven. In some states, a formal residency certificate from a government-authorised department will be enough to prove eligibility. However, some NLUs have well-defined domicile eligibility, which makes it more extensive.
NLSIU, for example, defines ‘’Karnataka Student’ as someone who has studied for not less than 10 years in a recognised educational institution in Karnataka. NALSAR Hyderabad defines a domicile candidate as someone who has studied in Telangana for four consecutive years and then appears for the qualifying exam (class 12th) or someone who has resided in the state for at least four years and completed 10+2 from a recognised institute in Telangana.
The state quota seats in NLUs are filled through separate merit lists of students from the respective states. The number of students under this category is less than all the all-India students. It leads to significantly lower competition from the all-India categories.
Take the example of NLSIU Bangalore, where admissions are highly competitive, and the all-India general category seats are filled by an all-India rank of 100-112. The domicile category cutoff can drop by 4x from the all-India cut-off. CLAT 2025 general category cutoff for NLS Bangalore was 112. However, the domicile category admission with 85 seats (25% reservation + 10 additional seats under the Karnataka students category), closed at CLAT AIR 460.
Similarly, GNLU Gandhinagar, where male General category admission at the all-India level closed at AIR 444, the state quota closed at AIR 2549. NLU Ranchi closed all India general category admissions at AIR 1667 during CLAT counselling, but state quota admissions were accepted till AIR 5514.
The data above shows that domicile category admissions can be heavily relaxed in NLUs. There is no general trend in this category which would have made the cutoffs more predictable for next year, similar to what we see in the all-India categories. The state quota seats are reserved irrespective of students’ rank. Even if the student gets a 30,000 CLAT rank and meets the CLAT domicile criteria, he/she still have a chance to secure admission, provided there are not too many students under this category with a CLAT rank of 30,000 or less. GNLU Silvassa is one such example where general male category admission at the all-India level closed at AIR 1461, and the state quota admission was accepted at AIR 33059.
The domicile reservation does offer a regional character to the national law universities, which are often misunderstood as national/central universities due to the word “national” in their name. However, varying degrees of domicile reservation with differences in eligibility only bring confusion among students. It also limits uniform all-India access to NLUs. A balanced and uniform reservation policy in the state quota will not only bring clarity in the admission process but will also provide a level playing field to all students competing at the all-India level.
On Question asked by student community
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 Santosh,
Domicile cut-offs are unpredictable. You can apply and get a seat only if the domicile category is selected. You can apply, but the chances of getting either of them are rare.
CLAT is an entrance examination conducted for admissions into law colleges. The qualifying marks vary with the colleges. You should check the details on the website to get a clear idea regarding cut offs for the colleges. You will also get the exam pattern through the article shared.
The exact number for students appeared for CLAT has not been revealed yet. About 88,657 students appeared Nationwide for CLAT examination.
Hello, it is highly unlikely to get admission to the GGSIPU Main Campus or VIPS. However, you can target other colleges affiliated with GGSIPU through the counselling process.
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