The Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB), formerly known as the Central Counselling Board (CCB), was established by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, to oversee the coordinated admission process for undergraduate degree programs in engineering, technology, and architecture across NITs, IIEST, IIITs, SPAs, and GFTIs (collectively known as the NIT+ system), based on JEE (Main) ranks. Since the academic year 2015-16, CSAB for the NIT+ system and the Joint Admission Board (JAB) of IITs have been operating under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate joint seat allocation and counselling through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA).
The Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India, has entrusted IIEST, Shibpur, with the responsibility of conducting the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB-2026) and the Direct
Admission of Students Abroad (DASA-2026). Prof. V.M.S.R Murthy, Director, IIEST, Shibpur, will serve as the Chairman of CSAB-2026 & DASA-2026, overseeing the entire process. A dedicated team of experienced members from IIEST, Shibpur, will provide continuous guidance and support through each round of seat allocation, with designated verification and help centres and a multilingual tele help desk to assist candidates effectively.
Following the completion of JoSAA rounds, any vacant seats within the NIT+ System will be filled through two additional CSAB-Special Rounds, conducted via the CSAB website (https://csab.nic.in).
With the same platform and same timeline of CSAB-Special, the DASA-2026 process will also run.
Additionally, CSAB conducts specialized counseling based on JEE (Main) 2026 ranks, namely, CSAB-Supernumerary round and CSAB-NEUT rounds.
The CSAB-Supernumerary round facilitates admission to supernumerary seats in selected NITs for candidates from Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
The CSAB-NEUT Rounds allocate seats under the Government’s “Reservation of Seats in Degree Level Technical Courses in AICTE-Approved Institutions for States/UTs Lacking Such Facilities” scheme, benefiting candidates from North-Eastern states and Union Territories.
Comprehensive details regarding the admission procedure, fee payment and refund policies, admission schedule, verification/help centres, participating institutes with seat distribution across categories, fee structure, contact information, and other essential guidelines are available on the JoSAA-2026 (https://josaa.nic.in) and CSAB-2026 (https://csab.nic.in) websites. Candidates are strongly advised to regularly visit the JoSAA and CSAB portals for the latest updates and detailed information regarding the online admission process.