According to an official spokesman, there were about a dozen individuals and a couple of cinema hall managements and housing societies' office-bearers who have been issued notices in the context. The arrears in each case were more than Rs 25,000 and pending since years.

The spokesman said that that though the accused parties had not started commercial activities on their respective pieces of land after getting the agricultural land transferred into their names for non-agricultural activities, they had to pay the taxes. It was this issue which was long debated between the parties and collectorate, though now the latter has decided to settle the issue.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation, has agreed to pay up a part of its arrears of Rs 47 lakh to the collectorate in a day or two. This was decided following a meeting between GIDC and the district collector after one of the former's accounts was sealed by the collectorate earlier this week.

Confirming the details, district collector Anil Mukim, however, said that he decided to clear about 50 cases whose arrears were more than Rs 25,000 in the special ongoing drive. There were more than 500 other land owners in the district who had to pay taxes less than Rs 25,000. He said it was a special drive launched by his office to amicably settle pending land revenue cases.