By the Online Coaching 4u team
Last updated: 2 August 2026.
The Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) has opened online registration and choice filling for DASA and CSAB Special Counselling 2026, the process that fills seats left vacant across NITs, IIITs and other centrally-funded technical institutes after the Joint Seat Allocation Authority's (JoSAA) five main rounds conclude, according to the official CSAB portal, csab.nic.in.
What's actually confirmed
Three things changed on the official portals this week. First, JoSAA has announced the Round 5 seat allocation result, its fifth and final round for the 2026-27 session, covering 138 institutes: 23 IITs, IISc Bengaluru, 31 NITs, IIEST Shibpur, 26 IIITs and 56 other government-funded technical institutes. Second, CSAB has declared the Round 1 result for NEUT (the North-Eastern and Union Territory) seat allocation. Third, CSAB has opened fresh registration and choice filling for DASA (Direct Admission of Students Abroad) and CSAB Special Rounds 2026, run as a combined process this year, which will allocate any seats still vacant in the NIT+ system after JoSAA closes.
What it means for students
If you already hold a JoSAA-allotted seat in the NIT+ system, have paid the Partial Admission Fee (PAF), and are not applying through CSAB Special Rounds or DASA, your next step is physical reporting at your allotted institute, scheduled for 13-18 August 2026, per JoSAA's official notice. IIT and IISc candidates should check their specific institute's reporting schedule separately, since JoSAA states these are published on each institute's own admission page rather than centrally.
If you don't yet have a seat you're satisfied with, treat CSAB Special Rounds and DASA as a genuinely separate process from JoSAA, not a continuation of it. CSAB's own guidance is explicit that registration, choice filling and locking, seat allotment and fee payment all differ from JoSAA's procedures, so your JoSAA login or choices don't carry over. Document verification for DASA candidates happens before seat allotment; for CSAB Special candidates, it happens during the rounds themselves. Two seat-allocation rounds are planned under this combined DASA/CSAB-Special process for 2026.
Where to check for yourself
Because these portals update quickly during counselling season, confirm your specific dates directly rather than relying on a forwarded message or a third-party aggregator: the official CSAB Special/DASA page is at csab.nic.in/csab-special, and JoSAA's own schedule and notices are at josaa.nic.in/schedule.
Important pointers
- [2 Aug 2026] CSAB NEUT Round 1 seat allocation result has been declared, per csab.nic.in.
- [2 Aug 2026] JoSAA's Round 5 allocation, its fifth and final round for 2026-27, has been announced, per josaa.nic.in.
- [Effective 13-18 Aug 2026] Physical reporting for NIT+ system candidates who are not applying through CSAB Special/DASA falls in this window, per JoSAA's official notice.
- Myth check: Accepting a JoSAA seat does not automatically register you for CSAB Special Rounds or DASA — both require a fresh, separate registration on csab.nic.in.
- [Updated 28 Jul 2026] CSAB's DASA (UG) information brochure was last revised on 28 July 2026; always confirm you're reading the current version before relying on a date in it.
Last updated: 2 August 2026. Sources: josaa.nic.in, csab.nic.in.
