Asserting that "questions have been raised in the public domain about the impartiality and 'motives' of the public broadcaster", Sircar said the PB board had "taken several resolutions in the last two years, seeking more operational autonomy from the ministry, but it has failed to do so".
A copy of the letter is with IANS.
Sircar said: "In a way, therefore, MIB (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) lost an opportunity to convince a young minister (Manish Tewari) to break this long traditional linkage between the ministry and the News Division, which has continued unabated even after PB was born and assigned its distinct role in 1997."
Indicating the manner in which the ministry controls the PB, he said: "The mechanisms of appointment, transfers, career assessments and even punitive actions against senior officials of the News Division are bound to cast a 'shadow', in some form."
Sircar said that after the DD team got the interview with Modi, there were concerns that they had not yet managed a counter-interview with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.
"I gave him (DG News) the 'strength' to go ahead and telecast the interview, even though there were concerns that a 'balancing interview' from the other side could not be procured, despite best attempts of DD News," Sircar said in his letter.
Explaining the moves by the PB board aimed at acquiring autonomy, he said: "Another pertinent initiative of the PB Board, i.e, to bring in 'external professionals' met with some
degreeof success, but where the post of Directors General of Doordarshan and AIR are concerned, it did not succeed."
