NUJS Kolkata, formally The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, is a state law university set up in 1999 by an Act of the West Bengal legislature and was the fifth National Law University established in India. Located on a 5-acre campus in Salt Lake City, Kolkata, it offers a 5-year BA LLB (Hons) admitted through CLAT and was ranked 4 in NIRF Law 2025 with a median UG placement package of about Rs 20 LPA.
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Type | State law university (West Bengal, government) |
| Location | Salt Lake City, Bidhannagar, Kolkata |
| Campus | About 5 acres, residential |
| Flagship programme | Five-year BA LLB (Hons) |
| Admission | CLAT through Consortium of NLUs |
| BA LLB intake | About 120 seats |
| BA LLB fee | About Rs 2.67 lakh per year; Rs 13.34 lakh total (excluding hostel) |
| 2023-24 placements | 122 of 127 UG placed (96.1%), median Rs 20 LPA, highest Rs 22 LPA |
| CLAT 2025 cutoff (BA LLB Gen) | AIR 284 (Round 1) |
| NIRF 2025 | Law rank 4 (score 79.39) |
| NIRF 2024 | Law rank 4 (score 76.39) |
| NAAC | A+ (awarded December 2024) |
| Faculty | About 101 (professors, associate professors, assistant professors, visiting and adjunct faculty per nujs.edu/faculty) |
| Vice-Chancellor | Prof. O. V. Nandimath (2025) |
| Chancellor | Chief Justice of India |
| Official website | nujs.edu |
| Programme | Level | Duration | Admission | Approx fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BA LLB (Hons) | UG | 5-year | CLAT | ₹13.34 lakh total |
| B.Sc LLB (Hons) Forensic Science and Criminology | UG | 5-year | CLAT | ₹13.34 lakh total |
| Master of Laws | PG | 1-year | CLAT PG | ₹1.82 lakh total |
| Master of Science in Forensic Science | PG | 2-year | NUJS Entrance | - |
| Doctor of Philosophy in Law | PHD | - | NUJS PhD Entrance | - |
The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, commonly known as NUJS Kolkata or WBNUJS, is a state law university located in Bidhannagar, Kolkata. It was established under the WBNUJS Act, West Bengal Act IX of 1999, adopted by the West Bengal Legislature in July 1999, and was the fifth National Law University to be set up in India after NLSIU Bangalore, NALSAR Hyderabad, NLIU Bhopal and NLU Jodhpur. Academic sessions at NUJS commenced in 2000 at Aranya Bhavan, and the permanent campus in Salt Lake City was inaugurated on 28 October 2002 by the then Chief Justice of India B. N.
Kirpal. The Chancellor of the university is the Chief Justice of India, making NUJS one of only three NLUs with the CJI as Chancellor alongside NLSIU Bangalore and GNLU Gandhinagar. Prof.
O. V. Nandimath was appointed Vice-Chancellor in 2025, succeeding Prof. N. K. Chakrabarti.
The permanent campus spans about 5 acres on LB Block in Sector III of Salt Lake City, with the main building named Dr. Ambedkar Bhavan, two seven-storied on-campus hostels named Kanchenjunga for boys and Nilgiri for girls, a library, moot court hall and academic blocks. A 50-acre plot has been allotted in Rajarhat for a future expansion campus. NUJS was notified under Clause (f) of Section 2 of the UGC Act in August 2004 and granted permanent affiliation by the Bar Council of India in July 2005. It received NAAC A+ accreditation in December 2024.
The flagship programme is the five-year integrated BA LLB (Hons) with an annual intake of about 120 students, admitted through the Common Law Admission Test conducted by the Consortium of National Law Universities. NUJS also runs a five-year B.Sc LLB (Hons) in Forensic Science and Criminology launched in 2023, a one-year LLM with 100 seats and five specialisations covering Corporate and Commercial Law, International and Comparative Law, Criminal and Security Law, Law and Technology and Intellectual Property Law, an M.Sc in Forensic Science, and PhD programmes in law.
The total five-year academic cost for the BA LLB programme is about Rs 13.34 lakh (about Rs 2.67 lakh per year), rising to about Rs 16.6 lakh including residential charges. Students from economically weaker sections may apply for West Bengal state government scholarship schemes and central government category-based fee support programmes.
In the National Institutional Ranking Framework, NUJS Kolkata was ranked 4 in the Law category in 2025 with a score of 79.39, ranked 4 in 2024 with a score of 76.39, and ranked 4 in 2023 with a score of 69.34, sitting behind NLSIU Bangalore, NLU Delhi and NALSAR Hyderabad. The CLAT 2025 BA LLB (Hons) general category All India closing rank was about 284 in round 1, placing NUJS among the top four NLU choices in CLAT counselling. The CLAT PG general category closing rank for the LLM has typically been in the range of 411 to 620.
In the 2023-24 placement cycle reported through the NIRF 2025 disclosure, 127 UG students were registered and 122 were placed (96.1% placement rate), alongside 75 PG students placed. The median BA LLB package was about Rs 20 lakh per annum, the highest UG median among NLUs in 2024, with an average of about Rs 13 LPA. The median LLM package was about Rs 10 lakh per annum. Top recruiters include tier-one Indian law firms such as Khaitan and Co, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB and Partners, Luthra and Luthra, Trilegal and J Sagar Associates.
NUJS has produced multiple Rhodes Scholars including Shibani Ghosh in 2006, Amba Kak in 2013, Mihika Poddar and Adrija Ghosh in 2022, and Avinash Desai became the first NUJS alumnus to be designated a Senior Advocate. In 2003, NUJS became the only Indian and second Asian law school to win the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, a feat it repeated in 2020.
NUJS Kolkata has held NIRF Law rank 4 for three consecutive years from 2023 to 2025, sitting just behind NLSIU Bangalore, NLU Delhi and NALSAR Hyderabad, with a 2025 overall score of 79.39.
For CLAT 2025, the BA LLB (Hons) general category All India closing rank was about 284 in round 1, making NUJS one of the most preferred NLUs after NLSIU, NLU Delhi and NALSAR.
The 2023-24 cycle reported by the NIRF 2025 disclosure recorded a median UG package of about Rs 20 LPA, the highest median among NLUs, with 122 UG and 75 PG students placed and recruiters including Khaitan and Co, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB and Partners and Trilegal.
The one-year LLM is offered with five specialisations covering Corporate and Commercial Law, International and Comparative Law, Criminal and Security Law, Law and Technology and Intellectual Property Law, with 100 seats and admission through CLAT PG.
NUJS Kolkata is one of only three NLUs, alongside NLSIU Bangalore and GNLU Gandhinagar, where the Chief Justice of India is the Chancellor, and visiting faculty has included former Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit and former Supreme Court judge Ruma Pal.
Honest caveat: NUJS Kolkata has held NIRF Law rank 4 for three consecutive years from 2023 to 2025 but has not broken into the top three behind NLSIU Bangalore, NLU Delhi and NALSAR Hyderabad. The Salt Lake campus is only about 5 acres, smaller than peer NLUs, and the long-promised 50-acre Rajarhat expansion campus remains undeveloped. In late 2025, the university went through a leadership transition following student protests demanding the previous Vice-Chancellor's resignation over governance complaints, with Prof. O. V. Nandimath taking charge as the new VC.
| Framework | Category | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| NIRF | Law | 2025 | #4 |
| NIRF | Law | 2024 | #4 |
| NIRF | Law | 2023 | #4 |
Two seven-storied on-campus hostels, Kanchenjunga (boys) and Nilgiri (girls), on the 5-acre Salt Lake campus, with mess facilities, common rooms, and round-the-clock security for full-time students. Hostel rent runs about Rs 15,000 to 30,000 per year with mess charges of about Rs 20,000 per semester.
3 courses offered. Fees in INR lakhs.
| Course | Specialization | Duration | Total seats | Total fee | Avg package |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LLB (Bachelor of Laws) | — | 60 months | 120 | ₹13.34L | — |
| LLM (Master of Laws) | — | 12 months | 100 | ₹1.82L | — |
| M.Sc (Master of Science) | — | 24 months | — | — | — |
1-year placement history, latest data from 2024.
3 cutoff records across exams, courses, and categories.
| Year | R | Exam | Course | Category | Gender | Quota | Opening | Closing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | CLAT | LLB (Bachelor of Laws) | General | Gender-Neutral | AI | — | 279 |
| 2024 | 1 | CLAT | LLB (Bachelor of Laws) | SC | Gender-Neutral | AI | — | 4503 |
| 2024 | 1 | CLAT | LLB (Bachelor of Laws) | ST | Gender-Neutral | AI | — | 8860 |
Campus size, faculty strength, hostel facilities, and academic infrastructure.
Two seven-storied on-campus hostels, Kanchenjunga (boys) and Nilgiri (girls), on the 5-acre Salt Lake campus, with mess facilities, common rooms, and round-the-clock security for full-time students. Hostel rent runs about Rs 15,000 to 30,000 per year with mess charges of about Rs 20,000 per semester.
