What’s next for CLAT 2025 aspirants? Supreme Court Judgment on CLAT Results, Beyond CLAT; the OLETs

It's been over a month since CLAT was held and results were announced. However, the NLU admission process remains hostage to the ongoing controversy around the results. In the latest, the January 7 hearing in the Aditya Singh vs NLU Consortium case, no conclusive outcome was reached other than the NLU Consortium seeking the transfer of the case to the Supreme Court and the case was adjourned for January 30.

The NLU Consortium has asked the Supreme Court to transfer all similar cases in different high courts to the top court. This is more judicious in the sense that all such matters would be dealt with in the final court of appeal bringing an early closure of all such cases.

The fact is that CLAT 2025 results and NLUs admission schedule remain uncertain and so are the admission chances of thousands of students who appeared in the exam.

So what’s next? If you are in a general category, scoring anywhere less than 80 in the recently announced CLAT results, it is fair to say that even revised results would not give you a top NLU, and the best way forward is to look out for other entrance exams.

So, let’s now talk about some of the options that you can consider beyond CLAT in this article;

First on the list would be the MH CET 5-year LLB, since the registration for this exam has opened recently. If you are not sure if the CLAT score will not give you a seat in any of the top 13-14 NLUs, do consider appearing in MH CET Law.

Over 120 law colleges in Maharashtra accept the state-level law entrance exam of CET Cell. These include both government and self financed law colleges.

However, a few colleges such as GLC Mumbai, ILS Pune, D Y Patil College of Law, Ambedkar College of Law in Nagpur and Rizvi Law College are good options. Are they better than tier 3 NLUs, that is another topic of discussion, but they are certainly the top law schools participating in MH CET Law.

Jindal Global Law School is another option that you can consider. The law school based in Sonipat is a good option as it competes with prominent national law universities. The law school is accepting LNAT UK. The first phase of registration for LNAT UK was closed on December 31, however, the second phase of the registration window is open till March 31.

While Jindal does provide multiple integrated LLB courses in the form of BA LLB, BCom LLB and BBA LLB, keep in mind that the cost of these courses is slightly on the higher side and can go up to Rs. 9.8 Lakh per annum if tuition fees, accommodation fees and services charges are considered.

The third option is BITs Law School, although it accepts CLAT, MH CET Law, and SLAT, but appearing in the BITS Law Admission Test is recommended if you are specifically interested in the integrated LLB programme of BITS.

CUET UG Law is another entrance exam, probably the most popular among all. Although CUET UG will be accepted by all central universities and many state universities and private law schools, the Faculty of Law at BHU and Allahabad University are the most recommended ones.

At the university level, Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University also conduct their separate law entrance exams. Among these, Jamia is ranked as the 6th best law school in India by NIRF Law 2024 ranking, whereas AMU has secured the 12th position.

Panjab University which has a main law centre in Chandigarh, and two regional centres, one in Ludhiana and the other in Hoshiarpur, also conducts a law entrance exam. The PU law entrance exam is conducted for BA LLB and BCom LLB courses and it is expected to be held in April - May.

Finally, there are some other state-level law entrance exams you can look for. For example, if you are from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, do consider appearing in TS LAWCET and AP LAWCET, Whereas, Kerala also has a separate entrance exam, KLEE. these admission notifications for these exams are expected to be announced soon, so keep checking their website for regular updates on these exams.