New Delhi, May 29 (IANS): The government on Friday said the IIT-Madras' action was as per its guidelines and procedure and the human resource development ministry had nothing to do with it.

"The action has been taken by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras as per the guidelines of the institute.. the ministry of human resource development had nothing to do with this except for forwarding the complaint received to director, IIT, Madras for comments," the ministry said in a statement.

It went on to say that IIT-Madras has taken action as per their own "procedure and institute's guidelines".

"IITs being autonomous institutions, they are competent to handle matters within their guidelines and procedure. The matter has been clarified by IIT-Madras through a media statement dated May 29," it added.

The statement follows reports that the institute had taken action against Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC) - a students' study group - over an anonymous complaint to the central government saying that that it was trying to "create hateful atmosphere" among students by distributing "controversial pamphlets and posters" on the campus.

The institute said while IIT-Madras does not curtail freedom of expression of the students, it is expected that student groups adhere to these guidelines while conducting their activities.