Date:25.05.2016

President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday signed an order that allows state boards to skip the uniform medical entrance examination, NEET , for a year.

NEET is the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to medical colleges.

The ordinance- or executive order - cleared by the Cabinet on Friday, is aimed at "partially" overturning a Supreme Court order.

The top court ruled last month that NEET would be the only test for admission to medical courses in India. It turned down an appeal by several states who wanted to hold their own separate medical entrance exams.The top court order said all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would have to use NEET's results and not their own entrance exam results for admission.

The ordinance was sent to the President on Saturday after which he had asked the health ministry to explain the reason for taking the ordinance route to keep state boards out of the ambit of NEET..

Health minister JP Nadda had met Pranab Mukherjee on Monday to answer the President's questions on the need for urgency in issuing the executive order.

Sources said the minister briefed the president on different issues related to the examination including issues like difference in state boards exams and syllabus and regional languages.

Nadda had earlier said the government was committed to implementing the as per Supreme Court's order, but was also looking for ways to accommodate the concerns of the states.