Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a non-statutory body created for the convenience of the students seeking admission to the various Law Universities in the Country under Memorandum of Understandings (MoU). An entrance test is conducted to provide a list of candidates on the basis of ‘merit-cum-preference’ to each University for admission to their UG/PG programs, as per the qualifications, reservation and other conditions laid down under the respective Statutes of the participating Universities. The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is an all India entrance examination conducted on rotation by 16 National Law Universities (NLUs) for admissions to their under-graduate and post-graduate degree programmes (LL.B. & LL.M.).

The 16 participating NLUs in the order of their establishment are :

• National Law School of India University, Bangalore (NLSIU)
• National Academy of Legal Study & Research (NALSAR) University of Law, Hyderabad
• National Law Institute University, Bhopal (NLIU)
• The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata (WBNUJS)
• National Law University, Jodhpur (NLUJ)
• Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur (HNLU)
• Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar (GNLU)
• Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow (RMLNLU)
• Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala (RGNUL)
• Chanakya National Law University, Patna (CNLU)
• National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi (NUALS)
• National Law University Odisha, Cuttack (NLUO)
• National University of Study & Research in Law, Ranchi (NUSRL)
• National Law University & Judicial Academy, Assam, Guwahati (NLUJAA)
• Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Visakhapatnam (DSNLU)
• The TamilNadu National Law School, Tiruchirappalli (TNNLS)

The first CLAT Core Committee consisting of Vice-Chancellors of the seven participating NLUs at that time decided that the test shall be conducted by rotation in the order of their establishment. Accordingly, the first Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) was conducted in the year 2008. Now there are 16 participating NLUs and following the practice the eighth Common Law Admission Test (CLAT 2015) will be conducted by the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National University, Lucknow.

The Under-Graduate Programme Offered By The National Law Universities :
The Sixteen NLUs offer a five-year integrated under-graduate law courses leading to the award of B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), B.Sc. LL.B. (Hons.), B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), B.S.W. LL.B. (Hons.), B.Com. LL.B. (Hons.) degrees.

The Post-Graduate Programme Offered By The National Law Universities :
The information of the LL.M. degree course offered at the various NLUs with the duration and the specializations have been provided in detail under the sections of each University. The candidates are also advised to check the websites of respective Universities from time to time to keep themselves updated about the changes in the course structure and other details.

Eligibility criteria for admission to UG/PG programme :
Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a non-statutory body created for the convenience of the students seeking admission to the various Law Universities in the Country under Memorandum of Understandings (MoU). An entrance test is conducted to provide a list of candidates on the basis of ‘merit-cum-preference’ to each University for admission to their UG/PG programs, as per the qualifications, reservation and other conditions laid down under the respective Statutes of the participating Universities. The qualification and other details as provided by Statutes of each University for admission to UG/PG program, is given as follows :

Those who are appearing in their Class 12th (For UG Programme) and LL.B./a five year integrated LL.B. (For PG Programme) or any other equivalent degree in Law for qualifying examination in 2015 are eligible to appear in CLAT – 2015, Such candidates are required to produce evidence of passing of qualifying examination with minimum required percentage at the time of admission.

The result of qualifying examination shall be submitted by the candidate at the time of admission, failing which, the candidate shall be ineligible for admission to the Course.

Pattern of CLAT 2015 (Under-Graduate Programme)

• English including comprehension
  The English section will test the candidates’ proficiency in English based on comprehension passages and grammar. In the comprehension section, candidates will be questioned on their understanding of the passage and its central theme, meanings of words used therein etc. The grammar section requires correction of incorrect grammatical sentences, filling of blanks in sentences with appropriate words, etc.
• General Knowledge and Currents Affairs
  The candidates will be tested on their general awareness including static general knowledge. Questions on current affairs will test candidates on their knowledge of current affairs (broadly defined as matters featuring in the mainstream media between March 2014 to April 2015).
• Mathematics
  This section will test candidate’s knowledge on elementary mathematics, i.e. maths taught up to Class X.
• Legal Aptitude
  This section will test candidate’s interest towards study of law, research aptitude and problem solving abilities. Questions will be framed with the help of legal propositions (described in the paper), and a set of facts to which the said proposition has to be applied. Some propositions may not be “true” in the real sense (e.g. the legal proposition may be that any person who speaks in a movie hall and disturbs others that are watching the movie will be banned from entering any movie theater across India for one year). Candidates will have to assume the “truth” of these propositions and answer the questions accordingly.
• Logical Reasoning
  The purpose of the logical reasoning section is to test the candidate’s ability to identify patterns, logical links and rectify illogical arguments. It will include a wide variety of logical reasoning questions such as syllogisms, logical sequences, analogies, etc. However, visual reasoning will not be tested.

• The merit-cum-preference will be the basic principle of admission for CLAT 2015 and the allotment of candidates to various NLU(s) will be based on the same. Hence, an online counseling would take place after the announcement of the CLAT 2015 results from 21st May 2015, wherein the candidates will be able to mark the preferences of the NLU(s) for admission within the stipulated period mentioned in the schedule.
• The specified number of the candidates from various categories will be allowed to participate in the online counseling against the actual seats available with the participating NLU(s), by logging in to the personal LOGIN ACCOUNT created by them at the time of registration and depositing the adjustable fees of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) either online/offline by bank challan through the website.
• The candidates seriously interested in taking admission must deposit the required fees so as to be considered against the seats available with an NLU. The candidates failing to deposit the required fees through the website with the CLAT Office by the specified date will forfeit their right to be considered for admission in CLAT-2015 and their names will be dropped from the CLAT-2015 Merit List.
• The university-wise first provisional allotment list based on merit-cum-preference will be published on the CLAT Website. The list will also be made available to the respective participating Universities.
• The provisionally selected candidates allotted to various NLUs will have to reserve their seats within a stipulated period at this stage by logging in to the personal LOGIN ACCOUNT. The candidates will be provided with three options viz.,
  • I hereby take admission with the allotted university and do not want my candidature to be considered for the next higher preference (This option can be availed only once), or
  • I hereby take admission with the allotted university and also want my candidature to be considered for the next higher preference, or
  • I hereby do not want to take part in the admission process.
  Any of the above options exercised by the candidate will be treated as final and irrevocable. The candidates failing to reserve their seat through the website with the CLAT Office by the specified date will forfeit their right to be considered for admission in future and their names will be dropped from the CLAT Merit List.
• A list of waitlisted candidates will also be issued along with the Provisional Allotment List, from the specified list of candidates who had undertaken the counseling after remitting the fees. The comprehensive list will be prepared by picking up candidates proportionately from various categories such as Unreserved/SC/ST/OBC/PWD/DFF/NRI etc. both from the All India and State (Domicile) category of candidates.
• If required, the CLAT Office will publish three more times the Subsidiary List of candidates allotted to various Universities against the actual left out seats.
• After depositing the required amount of fees and taking part in the counseling session with the CLAT office by the stipulated date, if the waitlisted candidates fail to get a seat in any of the Universities due to non-availability of vacancy, the entire amount of Rs. 50,000/- deposited by such candidates will be refunded to them without any deduction.
• If the candidates in the specified list for participation in counseling do not deposit the required amount of fees (i.e. Rs. 50,000/-) in adequate numbers for being considered against probable vacancies, if any, in future, and if the list of such candidates gets exhausted and some vacancies still remain thereafter, then a fresh counseling session will be undertaken by the CLAT Office.
• After the candidates are finally allotted to various Universities, the candidates will be required to approach the allotted Universities with the balance amount towards the admission fees and the relevant certificates/documents in original issued by the competent authority in support of the various claims made by the candidates, during the scheduled periods given in the CLAT-2015 Calendar and complete the admission formalities. The certificates in original will be checked by the respective universities at the time of their admission. For detailed information/update about the dates kindly check the CLAT Calendar.
• The candidate not having the required certificates/documents in original and failing to satisfy the eligibility requirements will not be allowed to take admission by the concerned Universities. Hence, the candidates seeking admission under various categories – especially those belonging to the reserved categories such as SC/ST/OBC/PWD/DFF/NRI and the Unreserved category candidates seeking admission under State Domicile category – will be required to obtain in advance the relevant and authentic certificates/ documents from the competent authorities and produce the same at the time of admission.
• Those candidates who fail to report to the Universities and complete the admission formalities as per CLAT-2015 Calendar will forfeit their claim for admission and their seats will be filled-up by the University by following its own procedure and not by the CLAT Office. The respective Universities will be reporting the details of admission against the Allotment list to the CLAT Office by 28th June 2015 including the number of vacancies that might remain due to non-reporting of the candidates allotted under the Actual Allotment List. This would help the CLAT Office make the declaration of the next allotment list with up gradated and wait listed candidates on 1st July 2015 and complete the admission process up to 4th July, 2015. For detailed information/update about the dates kindly check the CLAT Calendar.
• While the candidates will be required to pay the balance amount of fees to the allotted Universities at the time of completing the admission formalities, the adjustable amount of Rs. 50,000/- deposited with the CLAT Office will be transferred to the respective Universities after the completion of the admission process.
• The candidates withdrawing from the admission process after the stipulated date will be refunded the amount by the CLAT Office after deducting the processing charge of Rs. 10,000/-.
  
  Admission to the P.G. Programme
  The admissions to the PG programmes through CLAT-2015 will be done in a centralized manner from the CLAT Office after the counseling session, as mentioned above for the UG programmes, by allotting seats based on the merit cum preference of the candidates furnished during the counseling session. The candidates will be allowed to participate in the online counseling session by depositing the adjustable fees of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand Only) through the website with the CLAT Office.

Tie-Breaking (Under-Graduate Programme)
In the event of equal marks scored by two or more candidates in the CLAT 2015, the tie will be broken by the following procedure and order:

• Higher marks in the section of legal aptitude in CLAT 2015
• Higher age
• Computerized draw of lots

• Higher age
• Computerized draw of lots

Break-up of Seats for Under-Graduate (UG) Programme

Break-up of Seats for Under-Graduate (PG) Programme