New Delhi, Aug. 2: The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, may be forced to re-admit 17 students it had expelled and staunchly refused to reconsider just a month back, under pressure from Arjun Singh.

Arjun has ordered the human resource development ministry, which he heads, to “ensure” the students are re-admitted, and plans to personally grill the IIT Delhi top brass over the matter, top government officials have revealed.

Nine of the 17 students belong to the scheduled castes and have accused IIT Delhi of caste-based discrimination in expelling them. The SC students have also cited earlier instances at the IIT when they say they were mistreated because of their caste.

The institute maintains that the students were asked to leave because of poor performance.

This is the first time ever that an education minister has personally intervened to re-admit students expelled on grounds of poor performance by any of the IITs, which are officially autonomous.

Six state elections and the general elections are round the corner and Arjun fears the anger of the expelled students and the charges of caste discrimination could work against the government, ministry sources said.

The HRD minister met the parents of some of the expelled students on Monday and immediately afterwards asked ministry officials to summon IIT Delhi director Surendra Prasad, the sources added.

Arjun “assured” the parents at the meeting that the decision to expel the students would be revoked, the sources said.

The expelled nine had earlier approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, which asked the IIT to improve its approach to students from the category.

The commission also pointed out that IIT Delhi is not meeting some of the guidelines all education institutions in India are required to follow to ensure there is no bias against reserved category students.

“The minister appeared upset at learning that the IIT had summarily expelled these students, especially the SC students. The commission pointing out flaws in the IIT’s style of dealing with SC students is also, in a way, embarrassing for him,” a source said.

Arjun had asked Prasad to meet him on Tuesday evening, sources said, but had to cancel the appointment because he fell ill. The minister, a diabetic, is admitted at AIIMS with a gall bladder stone, a blocked passage to the heart, and a kidney infection.

“Once he is discharged and gets back to work, he is likely to call the IIT Delhi director and seek a personal explanation from him,” a senior ministry official said.