CLAT 2025 counselling refunds: How to Get a refund from Consortium?

CLAT 2025 counselling refunds: How to Get a refund from Consortium?

Mirza Farhan BaigUpdated on 22 May 2025, 10:50 AM IST

The CLAT counselling registration window closed on May 21, 2025. The Consortium of NLUs restarted the CLAT counselling process after declaring the revised result on May 17. Shortlisted candidates had to pay the counselling registration fee which is Rs. 30,000 for general candidates and Rs, 20,000 for SC and ST Candidates. However, several candidates are now seeking a refund of the counselling fees they paid earlier in December when the counselling registration first started as per the old result. This is due to the fact that many have been disqualified from counselling provisions due to revisions in the CLAT merit list, whereas some have secured admission to non-NLUs through other entrance exams and no longer want to be part of the CLAT admission process. Additionally, there will be candidates, approximately 85% of those included in the current CLAT invite list; they received the invitation but may not be able to secure allotment due to a limited number of seats offered by NLUs.

CLAT 2025 counselling refunds: How to Get a refund from Consortium?
CLAT 2025 counselling refunds

Such candidates can secure a full refund of the counselling fees provided they meet the terms and conditions. In some cases, a refund is given after some deductions or even the confirmation fee is locked.

Let us try to understand in this article how CLAT counselling fee refund works, what are the rules for deduction if any, and what options are available to you if you participate in the admission process and still want a fee refund.

So, there are majorly four types of refunds in CLAT counselling right now.

  1. Candidates who have been disqualified in the revised merit list. Such candidates are eagerly waiting for refunds.

  2. Those who are eligible for counselling and allotment, still want to opt out of the process and get the refunds

  3. Refund for candidates who do not secure allotment in any of the NLU till the last round of counselling.

  4. Those who exercise options such as freeze, and float but opt out later from the admission process.

CLAT counselling refund for disqualified candidates

In this case, a full refund will be given. The consortium has said that such candidates will get a refund very soon. Regarding these refunds, do check the CLAT 2025 login portal for more updates.

Refund if Opting out of CLAT 2025 counselling

Candidates simply opting out of the counselling process are advised to not use the Freeze or Float options and instead simply exercise the Exit option when allotments are announced, the counselling fee will be refunded without any deductions.

CLAT 2025 counselling fee refund after no allotment

If a candidate is not allotted a seat till the third round of counselling, the complete registration fee will be refunded.

CLAT counselling refund after exercising freeze and float

The fourth and most tricky scenario is when candidates exercise the freeze, and float options after allotment; how much refund they will get in this case?

Keep in mind that exercising freeze and float options requires candidates to pay a non-refundable confirmation fee of Rs. 20,000.

Now, going forward, if the exit option is exercised in the counselling process, candidates may get a refund of the counselling registration fee but not the Rs. 20,000 they paid for confirming the seat.

Still, if they want to opt out of the counselling after exercising freeze and float, use the exit option before 1 pm on June 09 to get a full refund of the counselling registration fee.

After this, a deduction of Rs. 5,000 is applicable, and candidates will get Rs. 15,000 or Rs. 25,000 in refund, depending on their category.

Now, suppose a candidate secured the allotment and submitted the documents at the NLU, but the university found out that identified some incorrect information or invalid documents; in this case, Rs. 5000 will be deducted and the remaining registration fee will be refunded. Additionally, the seat confirmation fee is already forfeited.

Finally, there is a case of admission withdrawal;

If a candidate takes admission at the allocated NLU but withdraws after June 09, Rs. 5000 will be deducted from his counselling fee. Additionally, the confirmation fee paid at the time of counselling will be forfeited.

In both the cases mentioned above, the candidate will end up losing Rs. 25,000. Therefore, candidates are advised to use their options judiciously, especially the freeze and float options.

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Questions related to CLAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CLAT ?

With an AIR of 34724 and OBC category rank of 7153, chances of getting a seat in DSNLU Visakhapatnam are low in early rounds. However, since you are already invited for counselling, there may be some chance in later rounds depending on seat vacancy and cut-off movement. You should participate

With a CLAT LLM rank of 13656, getting a top NLU is difficult. You may have chances in lower-ranked NLUs or private law universities, depending on seat availability and category.


You can check CLAT LLM counselling details here:

https://law.careers360.com/articles/clat-llm-cut-off


With a CLAT PG rank of 1257 in the SC category and being a woman candidate with Rajasthan domicile, you do have a realistic chance of securing admission to several National Law Universities, though the top NLUs may be difficult at this rank. Admission chances depend heavily on category-wise cut-offs,

With a CLAT PG rank of around 11,000, getting admission into the top National Law Universities (NLUs) is not likely, as their general category cut-offs usually close much earlier. However, you still have realistic chances in lower-ranked and newer NLUs, especially in the later rounds of CLAT counselling or through

With a CLAT 2026 All India Rank around 2070, Telangana domicile, and holding an OBC certificate (girl candidate), your chances of getting admission into a top-tier NLU like NLSIU Bengaluru, NALSAR Hyderabad, NUJS Kolkata or NLU Jodhpur are quite low, as their closing ranks are usually much higher. However, you