Bhubaneswar: The civic body has finally started taking action against holding tax evaders by filing certificate cases against them.

A certificate case could be filed under the Orissa Public Demand Recovery Act, 1962, where the civic body can take steps such as attaching bank accounts and movable and immovable property of the defaulters till he pays the defaulted amount.

In January, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had issued "red notices" to some 284 major holding tax defaulters of the city and directed them to pay their dues before March 15 or face action. The civic body plans to collect Rs 9 crore in holding tax from them.

However, only 31 of the 284 defaulters have cleared their dues as of now, leaving the civic body with no other option but to file certificate cases against the remaining 253 defaulters.

"The zonal deputy commissioners have been provided with the list of the defaulters. They will go and take action according to the provisions of the certificate case. We have requested them time and again to pay the taxes on time, but some people continued to ignore it. They will face action now," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

The Telegraph had reported several times about the poor performance of the civic body in collecting holding tax. Besides, the state housing and urban development department has slammed the civic body thrice in the recent past for failing to augment revenue by collecting holding tax.

"The collected tax is only spent for the greater good of the people. But some people do not seem to understand that. We need to be strong in taking steps against such defaulters. We will spare none," said a senior civic official.

Another source said the zonal commissioner of southeast zone had already filed the first certificate case against a defaulter named Kanak Lata Dash and recovered Rs 3 lakh from her. "The defaulter has also assured us of paying the total due amount of Rs 5 lakh by March 31," said an official.

The civic body collected Rs 1.45 crore in January towards holding tax that was increased to Rs 6 crore in February. However, the total collection in the current financial year remained at a low of Rs 21.6 crore compared to Rs 35.7 crore till February last year.