New Delhi, Nov. 20: The Union cabinet today cleared a central engineering school for Malda named after late Congress leader ABA Ghani Khan Choudhary, overriding concerns raised by the finance ministry that the move could be viewed as politically motivated.

The Ghani Khan Choudhary Institute of Engineering and Technology will offer courses related to food technology and sericulture, apart from a slew of other engineering subjects, the government said after the cabinet meet.

The institution will start with certificate level courses and later, diploma, degree and post-graduate classes will begin.

The project was mooted by the relatives of Choudhary earlier this year, officials at the human resources development (HRD) ministry said.

In July, the HRD ministry asked the finance ministry for clearance of the project ahead of 10 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) that had been already on the pipeline.

The finance ministry replied that the institute ought to be approved only along with the NITs. Sources in the finance ministry said they had been concerned that any rush to start the Malda institute ahead of those which had been planned earlier would appear politically motivated. The Prime Minister’s Office, however, gave clearance for the project, paving the way for the cabinet’s approval.