The action against the defaulters includes imposition of penalty, attachment of bank accounts and rents.

In a series of departmental notices, the MCD has been emphasising that the assessment and collection department would have to meet its target of Rs 650 crore by the next financial year. According to officials, arrears have never been so high in the past.

The axe started falling on the defaulters from December 24 onwards when the the first one -- with arrears of more than Rs 11 lakh -- was rounded up. The biggest defaulter has been V. Gandhi whose arrears were Rs 48 lakh. Her property has been attached. All of 20 tax-evaders have been caught, according to an official release.

In preparation for this operation, a two-pronged line of action was adopted by the department. One the one hand, the department allowed incentives/rebates to tax-payers. The last date for such rebates was December 31. After this the department, as a second step, began focussing on stringent penal action against the defaulters. The department has also undertaken a house-to-house survey to identify unassessed/under-assessed properties.

Meanwhile, in another directive, Municipal Commissioner V.K. Duggal had advised property tax-payers that the cheques for depositing the tax should be endorsed in the full name of Municipal Corporation of Delhi instead of MCD because, as he points out, ``it causes inconvenience and delay in clearance of cheques''.