CLAT 2026 Counselling Date: Full Schedule, All Five Rounds, Fees and the CLAT 2027 Counselling Timeline

The single most useful fact about CLAT counselling

Your CLAT rank does not give you a seat. The counselling process does. You must register, pay the counselling fee, lock your NLU preference list, and respond to each allotment list on time, or your rank converts into nothing.

It is entirely online at consortiumofnlus.ac.in. There is no physical reporting during the allotment rounds.

Only candidates who receive an invitation by email, SMS and on their CLAT login can register for counselling.

That is the headline. The rest of this guide separates the two things a counselling search is really after, and most pages online blur them together. One is the concluded CLAT 2026 counselling calendar, with every round and deadline, so you can see exactly how the cycle ran. The other is the live CLAT 2027 counselling timeline you should plan around now. Below you get both, cleanly apart, plus the fee and refund mechanics, the five allotment lists explained, the freeze, float and exit logic, the documents you need, and the one disruption that reshaped the 2026 calendar mid way through.

CLAT 2026 Counselling Dates at a Glance

CLAT 2026 Counselling: The Complete Schedule, All Five Rounds

Here is the full, concluded CLAT 2026 counselling calendar as released by the Consortium, from the result through to the final fee deadline. Every date below is from the official 2026 cycle.

Read that table as a five month commitment, not a single date. The gap between the third list in early February and the fourth in early May is the part that surprises people. It is not a delay you can ignore. If you are floating a seat, you stay in the process across that whole gap, and you must track every deadline to avoid losing the seat you already hold.

CLAT 2027 Counselling Dates: The Expected Schedule

If you are preparing for the current cycle, this is the section that matters. The Consortium releases the counselling schedule only after the result, so CLAT 2027 counselling dates are not yet official. But the pattern is stable, and you can plan around it with confidence. CLAT 2027 is on 6 December 2026, so the result is expected within about two weeks, and counselling should open shortly after.

Treat these as a planning guide, not a promise. The exact CLAT 2027 counselling dates will be confirmed in the counselling notification on the Consortium website once the result is out. The one thing you can do now is be ready: keep your rank realistic by training on full length papers through our CLAT coaching in Delhi NCR and our CLAT previous year papers, because counselling only rewards the rank you actually earn on exam day.

What Is CLAT Counselling, and Why It Decides Everything

CLAT counselling is the centralised, online seat allotment process run by the Consortium of National Law Universities after the result. It is how your All India Rank is turned into an actual seat at a specific National Law University. The participating NLUs pool their seats, and the Consortium allots them round by round, based on your rank, your category, and the order of NLU preferences you lock in.

The point most aspirants miss is that counselling is not automatic. A brilliant rank sits idle unless you register, pay, choose your preferences, and respond to each allotment. The seats are filled strictly in merit and preference order, so a single missed deadline can drop you behind thousands of lower ranked candidates who simply did the paperwork on time. Counselling is where careful admins beat careless toppers.

CLAT Counselling Registration: Step by Step

The whole CLAT counselling 2026 process runs through your existing CLAT login at consortiumofnlus.ac.in. Only invited candidates can register, and the invitation arrives by email, SMS and on your portal once results are out.

1. Log in to the CLAT portal with the registration number and password you created for the application form.

2. Confirm your personal, academic and category details, and accept the counselling terms and conditions.

3. Pay the counselling registration fee online. Your registration is complete only after a successful payment, so save the transaction ID and confirmation.

4. Fill and lock your NLU preference list, ranking the universities in the exact order you want them.

5. Wait for the allotment list, then exercise your freeze, float or exit choice within the deadline for that round.

CLAT Counselling Fees and How the Refund Works

There are two separate payments in CLAT counselling, and confusing them is a common and costly mistake.

The registration fee is best understood as a deposit, not a sunk cost. If you are not allotted any seat by the end of the fifth round, or you exit the process without ever having frozen or floated a seat, the counselling registration fee is refunded in full. The confirmation fee, by contrast, is non refundable once you commit to a seat, and it is forfeited if you freeze or float a seat and then exit later. When you finally pay the university fee at your allotted NLU, the amounts already paid are adjusted against it, so you are not paying twice for the same seat.

The registration fee did draw a legal challenge in the CLAT PG context, where a candidate argued the amount was excessive, but the process continued. For a clear view of total admission costs separate from coaching, see our transparent CLAT and AILET coaching fees in Delhi NCR.

NLU Preference List and How Seat Allotment Works

After paying, you build your preference list, the heart of the whole process. You rank the participating NLUs in the order you want to join them. For the undergraduate programme the 2026 notification required candidates to opt for a minimum of around fifteen NLU preferences at the start, while the postgraduate list is shorter. Your preferences, once locked, drive every allotment you receive.

Seat allotment is then a pure merit and preference engine. In each round the Consortium works down the rank list and assigns each candidate the highest NLU on their preference list that still has a seat open in their category. Four things decide what you get: your All India Rank, your category rank, the order of your preference list, and the seats still available in that round. Nothing else. There is no interview and no discretion. This is also why your rank and the cut off trends matter so much, since a seat at a top NLU is simply a question of whether your rank clears that university preference in some round.

The Five Allotment Lists Explained

CLAT 2026 counselling ran across five allotment lists, each one a fresh chance to move up. Here is what each round does.

• First allotment list (7 January 2026). The opening round, based on your rank and locked preferences. If you are allotted a seat, you choose freeze, float or exit and pay the confirmation fee to hold it.

• Second and third lists (22 January and 5 February 2026). Vacated and upgraded seats are reassigned. Float candidates can move to a higher preference, and new candidates enter as seats open up.

• Fourth and fifth lists (2 May and 15 May 2026). The final rounds mop up remaining vacancies after the first wave of admissions settles. The fifth list is the last chance; there is no round after it.

A seat you hold on float can be upgraded in any later round, which is both the appeal and the risk of floating. You might climb to a better NLU, or you might simply hold what you have while the clock runs. The rounds reward patience only if you track every deadline.

Freeze, Float or Exit: The Choice That Decides Your Seat

Each time you are allotted a seat, you face the single most important decision in counselling. Choose well and you either lock in a seat you love or climb to a better one. Choose carelessly and you can lose a seat you already had.

Documents Required for CLAT Counselling

At the counselling stage your academic documents finally come into play, uploaded online during registration and verified at admission. Keep these ready before the registration window opens.

• CLAT scorecard and rank card

• CLAT admit card

• Class 10 and Class 12 mark sheets and certificates

• Date of birth proof (usually the Class 10 certificate)

• Category certificate, SC, ST, OBC, EWS, where you claim reservation

• PwD certificate, where applicable

• A valid photo ID such as Aadhaar or PAN

• Recent passport size photograph

• Any additional document a specific NLU asks for at admission

For the complete, stage by stage document breakdown across application, exam day, counselling and admission, see our dedicated guide to the documents required for CLAT. Mismatched or missing documents can cost you an allotted seat, so verify every one before you upload. If NLU Delhi is also on your radar, note that it runs a separate process; compare the two on our CLAT vs AILET guide.

Why CLAT 2026 Counselling Was Disrupted: The Court Pause

One reason the CLAT 2026 calendar looks stretched, with a long gap before the fourth and fifth rounds, is a court intervention. The counselling process was affected by litigation before the Allahabad High Court, and the later rounds were rescheduled once the matter was addressed, with the fourth and fifth allotment lists released in May 2026. This is not unusual for CLAT. The previous CLAT 2025 counselling was also delayed by pending court cases and ran in fewer rounds than planned. The lesson for a 2027 aspirant is simple: build a buffer into your plans, keep your documents and funds ready early, and do not assume every published date is final until the Consortium confirms it.

What Happens After You Accept a Seat

Freezing or floating a seat with the confirmation fee is not the end. To actually take the seat you must complete admission at the allotted NLU. That means paying the university fee by the deadline for your round, completing document verification in the form each NLU specifies, and reporting as instructed. Candidates who froze in the first three rounds had a university fee deadline of 24 April 2026, while those who froze in the fourth and fifth rounds had until 30 May 2026. Miss the university fee deadline and the seat can still be cancelled, even after you paid the confirmation fee, so the process is not over until the university fee is paid and your admission is confirmed.

CLAT PG Counselling 2026

The LLM admission process mirrors the undergraduate one. CLAT PG 2026 counselling also ran in five rounds on the same broad calendar, with its own cut offs that candidates must clear for each round. The preference list is shorter than the UG list, and the same freeze, float and exit options apply. The counselling registration and confirmation fees are the same structure, and the registration fee is refunded if no seat is allotted by the end of the final round. Several public sector undertakings also use CLAT PG scores, so an LLM seat is not the only value in a strong PG rank.

Common Mistakes That Cost Candidates Their Seat

• Treating the rank as the finish line and skipping counselling registration, which disqualifies you from allotment entirely.

• Locking a careless preference list, then being allotted a low choice you ranked without thinking.

• Missing an allotment deadline, which is read as surrendering the seat, not holding it.

• Confusing the refundable registration fee with the non refundable confirmation fee, and exiting after a freeze or float.

• Forgetting the university fee deadline after accepting a seat, which can cancel the admission you thought was secure.

• Assuming published dates are final, when court matters and vacancies routinely shift the later rounds.

How the CLAT Counselling Calendar Has Shifted

A quick look back helps you plan. CLAT 2025 counselling was delayed by pending court cases and was eventually conducted in fewer rounds due to a lack of time. CLAT 2026 counselling returned to the full five round structure, running from January to May 2026, though it too was affected by litigation that reshaped the later rounds. The pattern across cycles is consistent in shape, registration soon after the December result, a first list in early January, and a long tail of rounds into May, even when the exact dates move. For CLAT 2027, plan for the same arc: a late December start and a five month process, with the precise dates confirmed only after the result.

Your CLAT Counselling Action Plan

• Before the result: keep your documents and your counselling fee funds ready, and research the NLUs so your preference order is decided in advance.

• When counselling opens: register and pay immediately, do not wait for the deadline, then lock a carefully ordered preference list.

• At each allotment: decide freeze, float or exit before the deadline, and pay the confirmation fee on time to hold or upgrade your seat.

• After you accept: pay the university fee and complete verification at your allotted NLU before its deadline to finalise admission.

Counselling rewards the rank you earn and the deadlines you keep. Earn the rank with full length, timed mocks through our online CLAT coaching or a classroom near you in Hauz Khas, GTB Nagar, Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram. Aiming for NLU Delhi too? Train with our AILET coaching in Delhi NCR and map the paper with the AILET 2027 syllabus.