CLAT 2026: Consortium relaxes PwD rules, restores old guidelines after ministry's clarification

The Consortium of National Law Universities has relaxed the rules for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) appearing for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT 2026) by rolling back several stricter provisions introduced in October and restoring the earlier regulations. CLAT 2026 Admit Card (OUT) LIVE

The changes have been made following a clarification from the ministry that all competitive exams till December 31, 2025, should continue under the old framework.

Under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) Comprehensive Guidelines, candidates will continue to get 40 minutes additional time to attempt the two-hour entrance exam. They may either bring their own scribe or request the Consortium for one.

However, stricter rules introduced in October 2025 have been withdrawn.

The new rules required candidates to submit mandatory certification from a multi-member medical board for most disability categories, laid down strict educational qualification criteria for scribes, and set deadlines for submitting details of the scribe.

Meanwhile, the Consortium of NLUs has issued the CLAT admit card 2026 for both UG and PG entrance exams for admission to 25 National Law Universities. Candidates can download the CLAT UG, PG admit card 2026 from the official website, consortiumofnlus.ac.in.

Also read CLAT 2026: How will NLSIU Bangalore admit students? Seat intake, fees, cut-off trends explained

CLAT 2026: What changes for PwD candidates?

The rules for PwD candidates have been eased with the modification of CLAT PwD guidelines.

As per the previous criteria, a scribe’s educational qualification must be below two years or maximum 3 years. The minimum eligibility to appear in CLAT UG 2026 is Class 12. Therefore, scribes should be studying in Class 10 and not below Class 9.

As per the latest instructions, the scribe must not have completed more than Class 11 and should not be affiliated to any test-preparatory organisation or exam coaching centres.

For CLAT PG, the minimum eligibility for a scribe may be fourth year of graduation, but not below the third year, as per the previous order. It also restricted humanities and law students from being appointed as scribes.

The revised rules, however, restrict only law students from being scribes and the rest of the provisions remain unchanged.

Candidates were earlier required to submit the details of scribe within 10 days of CLAT, however, the new rule does not set a deadline for submission.

The fresh guidelines for PwD introduced in October 2025 provided technology-based solutions for the ease of attempting the exam.

The Consortium encouraged applicants to use facilities such as screen-reading software, magnification tools, and voice recognition in place of scribes. However, the revised guidelines only mention use of technological aids and assistive devices.