Law students slam CLAT's steep fees, file online plea

Students say Rs 30k fee to enter counselling process and Rs 20k non-refundable fee to freeze NLU seats is depriving poor aspirants

- | Niyati.Rana

As the countdown to the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2026 begins, students from 15 of the 26 National Law Universities (NLUs), including Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), have launched an online petition demanding an end to what they call the "exorbitant and exclusionary" fee structure for CLAT counselling.

CLAT is the gateway to undergraduate and postgraduate law programmes at NLUs across the country. But according to students, the current application and counselling process is pricing out thousands of deserving candidates.

The petition, started by students and supported by legal aspirants and law students alike, flags the revised counselling process introduced in 2023 and 2024. It mandates a Rs 30,000 counselling fee (Rs 20,000 for SC, ST, PWD, EWS and OBC candidates) just to enter the process, plus an additional Rs 20,000 non-refundable fee to "freeze" an allotted NLU seat. On top of that, aspirants must shell out Rs 4,000 for the CLAT application form.