Ranchi, July 11: Two engineering colleges of the state — one patronised by a prominent politician and another whose affiliation was withdrawn by Ranchi University (RU) a year ago — have received All India Council of Technical Education’s (AICTE) approval to run courses.

The colleges getting the AICTE clearance are Ramchandra Chandravanshi Institute of Technology (RCIT) at Vishrampur in Palamau and Alice Institute of Technology (AIT) on the outskirts of Ranchi. The affiliation from the university concerned, in this case RU, is awaited, though.

If RU extends approval, the students would be given the option of these colleges during counselling for this academic session to be held in the end of July.

“The department received a letter from AICTE headquarters pertaining to approval granted to RCIT and AIT. They can start courses from this academic session after getting affiliation from RU,” said the director of technical education, Arun Kumar.

Interestingly, RU withdrew AIT’s affiliation after the varsity’s vice-chancellor A. A. Khan and pro vice-chancellor S. K. Roy inspected the college last year. After finding that there was lack of adequate infrastructure like laboratories and teachers in the institute, the RU requested state science and technology department to transfer the institute’s students of last year to other engineering colleges so that they could complete their technical studies.

As far as the state government’s (science and technology department) nod in the form of no-objection certificate (NOC) is concerned, both the institutes — RCIT and AIT — have it. The institutes normally approach AICTE and universities for due approval and affiliation after getting NOC. However, AICTE norms do not mandate for an NOC from the state government.

Most of the private engineering colleges in the state are yet to gain popularity in the state, though. During the counselling in 2007, Ram Govind Institute of Technology, Koderma, got only two students, while only 12 took admission in Cambridge Institute of Technology, Tatisilwai, against the intake capacity of 240 every year.