def _delColumn(cat, col):
    """
    This function deletes a metadata column of the acatalog.
    :cat: a catalog object
    :col: a column id as string
    :returns: a boolean as True if the element has been removed and
        False otherwise
    """
    # First check if the metadata column already exists
    if col in cat.schema():
        try:
            cat.delColumn(col)
            logger.info('Column %s deleted from %s.' % (col, cat.id))
            return True
        except:
            logger.error(
                'Catalog column %s error while deleting from %s.'
                % (col, cat.id))
    return False