The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), whose South Asia Bureau made the documentary - 'Killing For Conservation', said it has not received any notification of a ban by Indian authorities and that such a reaction to a report which was 'balanced and impartial' would be 'disappointing'.
The statement follows after reports said a five-year ban was imposed on BBC for allegedly misrepresenting facts in a documentary on poaching in the Kaziranga National Park in Assam.
India's tiger conservation agency had asked the MEA to bar the BBC from filming in protected areas for five years, claiming a documentary produced by it "distorted" the government's anti-poaching strategy.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which functions under the Environment Ministry, in a memorandum said that producer Justin Rowlatt and others committed a "breach of trust" by submitting "false and misleading synopsis" to obtain filming permissions and producing a documentary which shows India's conservation efforts in "poor light".
"Wildlife wing of the Environment Ministry is advised to disallow filming permission to the BBC in any of the protected areas of the country for a period of five years," the office memorandum dated February 27, signed by Vaibhav C. Mathur, assistant inspector General of Forests (NTCA) said.
However, a BBC spokesperson said the British public broadcaster had not yet received any notification of a ban.
"Any such reaction to a report on an important global issue like the appropriate way to combat poaching would be extremely disappointing. The program was a balanced and impartial report which covered both the successes achieved through India's conservation policies and the challenges, which include the impact on communities living next to the parks.
"We approached the relevant government authorities to ensure their position was fully reflected but they declined to take part," the spokesperson said.
The documentary examines the government's anti-poaching policy and seeks to find if the communities in the areas near the reserve have been affected.
In an earlier memorandum, the NTCA had suggested "blacklisting" the BBC producer for "grossly erroneous" reporting, while issuing a show cause notice asking the broadcaster as to why permissions granted to it should not be revoked after the documentary termed the government's anti- poaching policy at Kaziranga as one of "shoot-to-kill".
It claimed more poachers were getting killed in the sanctuary by the guards than the animals they poached.