New Delhi: Seeking to dispel apprehensions that a recent directive to income tax officers may lead to harassment, Government today (Oct 14, 2004) said the provisions of the law will be used only against habitual offenders and fly-by-night hawala operators indulging in massive evasion of taxes.

In the wake of the "internal instructions" directing Income Tax Commissioners to launch a drive to collect arrears that have touched Rs 87,885 crore and fears that it would encourage only corrupt officials, a senior CBDT official said the provisions would be applied only in cases where assessment proceedings were on and it was obvious that recover of the demand would be a problem.

The provision for attachment of property would not be applied to normal tax cases but only to those persons whose tax arrears exceeded Rs 5 lakh in big cities and Rs 1 lakh in small cities.

"This is a kind of preventive step against mounting arrears," a top CBDT official said adding this would also put a stop to tax officials making a false assessment of taxes, which becomes difficult to collect.

The provision to temporarily attach property has been in the Income Tax Act since 1975 and tax authorities have been asked to utilise the provisions in the face of arrears shooting up by 20 per cent last year despite the target to reduce them by that figure.