And though the college was earlier called the Swarna Jayanti Balika Sansthan, it doesn't stop Education Minister Narendra Nath from describing the newly-renamed Mahila College for Engineering (MCE) as his ``biggest achievement till date.'' BJP supporters, on the other hand, say former chief minister Sahib Singh deserves the laurels as he helped the college get the required approvals from both the Government and the All India Council for Technical Education.

Housed in three rooms with asbestos roofs in the Kashmere Gate campus of DCE, the college is difficult to locate as the authorities have not bothered to put up a nameplate or signpost. As mechnical engineering student Yakshi Malhotra says: ``These rooms earlier housed the NSIT which has shifted to Pappankalan. We have taken the rooms on rent. Our college doesn't have anything of its own. Everything we have is borrowed.''

MCE has three courses: bachelor in computer and communication (CCE), electrical and electronics (EEE), and mechanical and automation engineering (MAE). Officer on Special Duty Dharmendra Taneja told Express Newsline: ``No other college in the country offers these courses. We have introduced the new courses with a different nomenclature keeping the interests of the industry in mind. The fee for every student is only Rs 2,400 every semester.''

None of the 160 students presently enrolled at MCE has taken an entrance examination. ``As the session began late,'' explains Tanushree, the lone English teacher at MCE, ``there was no time to conduct an examination. We enrolled students on the basis of marks scored in the CBSE examination. The cut-off percentage was 89 per cent.''

MCE is also perhaps the first engineering college without laboratory facilities which means students have to travel all the way to colleges beyond the city limits for their practicals. But MCE has promised to arrange transport for the students. ``We are negotiating with the Delhi Tourism Development Corporation (DTDC) to loan us their buses. The DTDC buses can take the students to the laboratory and back,'' says Taneja.

That's still in the future. As for now, a security officer sits before a locked room claiming it is the future MCE office. ``What is the purpose of an office when the college does not have a principal as yet,'' asks the officer.``The officer on special duty looks into the daily functioning of the college. There is no staff room for the 10 ad hoc teachers either. The politicians set up colleges for electoral gains but don't provide even basic facilities for the students and staff''.