The income tax (I-T) department is exploring the idea of hiring a private media consultant to effectively project the department, shunning the "conservative mindset" where it has only one designated spokesperson who has to take the approval of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman before every media interaction.

According to an agenda paper taken up recently at the department's top-level deliberations here, the CBDT spokesperson issues statements only after the chairman's nod in a "oneway" interaction full of "boring" officialese. "Such centralisation results in very rare interactions with the media," the paper said.

In recent years, successive chairpersons of CBDT, which controls the I-T department, have instructed its directorates not to interact with the media. The spokesperson is never available for comments.

The agenda paper suggested reviewing the media policy.