CLAT PG Counselling 2026: Registration, NLU Wise Seat Allotment and LLM Spot Round

CLAT PG 2026 counselling is conducted by the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) for admissions to the LLM programme across 25 participating NLUs. All five centralised counselling rounds have concluded, with the final university admission fee deadline on May 30, 2026. Individual NLUs are now running independent spot/institutional rounds to fill remaining vacant LLM seats — students with a valid CLAT PG 2026 score should check each NLU’s official website directly for current notifications and deadlines.

• Conducting body: Consortium of National Law Universities (Consortium of NLUs)
• Approximately 1,590 LLM seats are available across 25 NLUs accepting CLAT PG 2026 scores.
• Counselling involves online registration, NLU preference filling, merit-based seat allotment across five rounds, and reporting to the allotted NLU.
• All five central counselling rounds are complete; the Consortium’s centralised process closed on May 30, 2026.
• Remaining vacant LLM seats are now being filled through individual NLU spot rounds beginning June 2026 — visit each NLU’s official website for current notifications.

Reservation of Quotas for CLAT PG Counselling 2026

NLU LLM admissions through CLAT PG counselling apply both vertical (category-based) and horizontal reservations as mandated by Government of India guidelines and individual NLU statutes. The table below reflects standard reservations applied by most participating NLUs — exact percentages vary by institution and must be verified from each NLU’s official seat matrix.

The state domicile quota can significantly improve your chances even with a lower CLAT PG rank. Many NLUs reserve 40%–50% or more of their LLM seats for students holding a valid domicile certificate of the NLU’s home state. Competing within the domicile pool — which is smaller than the open pool — typically means lower cutoff ranks. If you are domiciled in the state where a preferred NLU is located, a valid domicile certificate uploaded during registration was essential to be considered under this quota.

Reservations during central counselling were applied by the Consortium’s allotment algorithm using each student’s registered category and uploaded certificates. During NLU spot rounds, each NLU applies its own seat matrix independently — check the spot-round notification for the exact category-wise vacancy breakdown.

How to Apply for CLAT PG Counselling 2026?

The CLAT PG 2026 centralised counselling registration window ran from December 17 to December 27, 2025, and is now closed. The steps below describe the complete central counselling process — useful for understanding how allotments were determined and as a reference for future CLAT PG cycles. Students seeking admission through ongoing NLU spot rounds must apply directly on each NLU’s official website — the Consortium portal is no longer active for fresh registrations.

Step 1: Registration on the Consortium Portal

Students visited the Consortium of NLUs counselling portal (consortiumofnlus.ac.in) and registered using their CLAT PG 2026 roll number and date of birth. A valid email address and active mobile number were required for all portal communications and OTP verification. Upon successful registration, login credentials were generated for use throughout the counselling process.

Step 2: Fee Payment

After registration, students paid the mandatory counselling security deposit online — Rs 30,000 for General / OBC / EWS students and Rs 20,000 for SC / ST / PwD students. Payment was accepted via credit card, debit card, or net banking; no offline or demand draft payment was accepted. This deposit is partially or fully refundable under specific conditions (see the Fees section below for refund rules).

Step 3: Choice Filling — NLU Preference List

After fee payment, students filled their NLU preference list on the portal, ranking all 25 participating NLUs in order of preference — most preferred at the top. Fill at least 15–20 NLU choices to maximise your chances across all counselling rounds. The list could be saved and modified multiple times before the final lock deadline of December 27, 2025 at 10:00 PM. Once locked, no further modifications were permitted under any circumstances.

Step 4: Seat Allotment

The Consortium’s allotment algorithm generated five merit lists, released between January 7 and May 15, 2026. Each round’s allotment was based on the student’s CLAT PG AIR, the locked NLU preference order, seat availability, and applicable category or domicile reservation. After Rounds 1–4, students chose Float, Freeze, or Exit. After Round 5, only Freeze or Exit was available — students who did not respond were treated as Exit and their allotment was cancelled.

Step 5: Reporting to the Allotted NLU

Students who Froze their seat paid the Rs 20,000 seat acceptance confirmation fee (adjusted against the NLU’s admission fee) and completed university admission fee payment by the May 30, 2026 deadline. They then reported to the allotted NLU — physically or online as per NLU instructions — for document verification and final admission formalities. Admission was confirmed only after successful document verification at the allotted NLU. Failure to report within the NLU’s specified deadline resulted in cancellation of the allotted seat.

How to Lock Your NLU Preferences

Locking your NLU preference list correctly was critical to securing the best possible allotment across all five rounds. The steps below describe how choice filling and locking worked on the Consortium counselling portal.

Step 1: Log In to the Counselling Portal

• Visit the official Consortium counselling portal at consortiumofnlus.ac.in.
• Enter your registered credentials (CLAT PG Roll Number and password) and click Login.

Step 2: Navigate to the NLU Preference List

• After logging in, go to the "NLU Preference List" or "Choice Filling" tab on your dashboard.
• A complete list of all 25 participating NLUs with LLM course details is displayed on screen.

Step 3: Arrange Your Preferences

• Use the drag-and-drop interface or up/down arrows to rank NLUs in your preferred order.
• Place your most preferred NLU at the top; your least-preferred safety option at the bottom.
• Include all NLUs you would genuinely be willing to attend — the more choices you include, the lower your risk of going unallotted.

Step 4: Save Your Preferences

• Click "Save" to store your current preference order without locking it permanently.
• Return and revise the list as many times as needed before the lock deadline.

Step 5: Lock Your Preferences

• Once satisfied, click "Lock Choices" before December 27, 2025 (10:00 PM).
• A confirmation pop-up will appear; confirm to permanently lock your preferences.
• After locking, no changes are possible — the allotment algorithm uses this locked list for all five rounds.

CLAT PG Counselling Documents Required 2026

The following documents are required for online upload during counselling registration and for physical or online verification at the allotted NLU at the time of reporting. For ongoing NLU spot rounds, the same document set is typically required — verify the exact list from each NLU’s spot-round notification. All scanned copies must be clear, complete, and legible; blurry or cropped documents may lead to rejection of the admission.

• CLAT PG 2026 admit card
• CLAT PG 2026 scorecard / rank card
• Class 10 (matriculation) marksheet and passing certificate
• Class 12 (intermediate) marksheet and passing certificate
• LLB degree certificate or provisional certificate (for recently graduated students)
• LLB semester-wise / year-wise marksheets for all semesters or years
• Category certificate — SC / ST / OBC-NCL / EWS as applicable; must be issued by a competent government authority
• State domicile / residence certificate (required if applying under state domicile quota)
• Disability certificate, if applicable — issued by a recognised medical authority
• NRI / NRI-sponsored certificate, if applicable
• Defence / ex-servicemen category certificate, if applicable
• Valid government-issued photo ID (Aadhaar card, passport, voter ID, or driving licence)
• Recent passport-sized photographs — colour, white background

Students who appeared provisionally (final-year LLB students at the time of CLAT PG 2026) must produce their final LLB marksheet and degree certificate at the time of NLU reporting. Not meeting the minimum marks threshold — 50% for General / OBC / EWS, 45% for SC / ST — at the verification stage results in cancellation of the allotted seat with no exceptions.

How Much Money is Needed for CLAT PG Counselling 2026?

CLAT PG 2026 counselling involved two distinct financial components: an upfront security deposit paid at registration and a seat acceptance confirmation fee paid upon choosing to Freeze an allotted seat. Understanding the refund rules before each payment decision is important — certain amounts are non-refundable once specific actions are triggered.

Non-Refundable Fee

The seat acceptance confirmation fee of Rs 20,000 is non-refundable once a student chooses to Freeze their allotted seat. However, this amount is adjusted against the NLU’s total admission fee — it is not charged in addition to NLU tuition and other institutional fees. If a student Freezes a seat, pays the confirmation fee, and then fails to report to the NLU, both the confirmation fee and the security deposit are forfeited entirely.

A deduction of Rs 5,000 is applied to the refundable security deposit if a student exits after the final permitted exit deadline without a valid ground, or if found ineligible during NLU document verification at the reporting stage.

Refundable Fee

The counselling security deposit paid at registration is refundable under the following conditions:

• Full refund: If you are not allotted any seat at the end of the fifth (final) round — the entire deposit is returned.
• Full refund: If you choose Exit before the permitted exit deadline — the deposit is returned without deduction.
• Refund with Rs 5,000 deduction: If you exit after the final deadline, or if the NLU finds you ineligible during document verification.
• No refund: If you Freeze a seat, pay the Rs 20,000 confirmation fee, and then fail to report to the NLU — both the deposit and the confirmation fee are forfeited.

If you withdraw after accepting a seat, the Rs 20,000 seat acceptance confirmation fee is not refunded. Evaluate all alternatives — including NLU spot rounds — before choosing to Exit in the final rounds.

NLU tuition fees, hostel charges, and other institutional fees are charged separately by each NLU and vary considerably across institutions. Refer to the individual NLU’s fee structure in their admission notification or official prospectus.

Round-Wise Seat Allotment 2026

CLAT PG 2026 conducted five centralised merit list rounds between January and May 2026. Higher-ranked students at top NLUs were typically allotted in Round 1; each subsequent round brought closing ranks progressively lower at each NLU as vacancies filled. All five central rounds are now complete. The table below shows each round’s status alongside the current NLU spot round phase — upcoming events appear first.

Following the closure of all five central rounds, individual NLUs are inviting students with valid CLAT PG 2026 scores to apply for remaining vacant LLM seats through their own spot/institutional rounds. Each NLU sets its own timeline, application process, and eligibility criteria — there is no common Consortium portal. The table below lists the 25 NLUs accepting CLAT PG 2026 scores, with indicative LLM seat counts (verify exact seat matrices from each NLU’s official notification or spot-round advertisement):

Seat counts above are indicative and based on information available as of June 2026. For exact seat matrices including category-wise reservation breakdowns, refer to the official notification published by each NLU or the Consortium portal at consortiumofnlus.ac.in.

Upgrade, Freeze, or Withdraw — How to Decide

During Rounds 1 through 4 of CLAT PG 2026 central counselling, every student who received a seat allotment had to choose one of three options: Float, Freeze, or Exit. In Round 5, only Freeze or Exit was available — Float was not offered in the final round. The choice made after each allotment directly determined the final outcome. All five rounds have concluded; this section explains the options for reference and for future CLAT PG cycles.

Key decision rules that applied during central counselling:

• Float is an upgrade attempt — not a guarantee. If a higher-preference NLU opens a seat matching your rank in the next round, you are upgraded. If no upgrade opens, you retain the current allotment. Floating in Round 4 carries the risk that Round 5 may not yield any better NLU — you keep your Round 4 allotment in that case.
• Freeze locks your seat permanently. Once you Freeze, you cannot re-enter the central counselling process for a better NLU — even if a preferred NLU has vacancies in later rounds.
• Exit forfeits your allotted seat. The Rs 20,000 confirmation fee (if already paid) is not refunded. Security deposit refund depends on exit timing relative to the final permitted deadline.
• Students who did not respond within a round’s deadline were automatically treated as having chosen Float in Rounds 1–4.
• In Round 5, students who did not respond were treated as having chosen Exit — their allotment was cancelled.

If you withdraw after accepting a seat (Freeze), the Rs 20,000 seat acceptance confirmation fee is not refunded. Before taking an exit decision in later rounds, evaluate whether any NLU’s spot round may offer a better outcome — spot round admissions allow a second chance at NLUs that still carry vacant LLM seats after central counselling.