Taxmen have been asked to go after rich non-salaried class to plug evasion and chalk out an action plan to recover direct tax arrears that run into more than Rs 87,000 crore (Rs 870 billion).

At the annual conference of Chief Commissioners and Directors General of Income Tax in New Delhi on Monday, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he would also came down heavily on errant tax officials against whom complaints have been lodged.

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In an unusual decision, media persons, who were invited to cover the inaugural function, were asked to quit the conference hall before the minister's speech.

Concerned over a whopping Rs 87,675 crore (Rs 876.75 billion) of direct tax arrears, he said that a sizeable amount of it was undisputed and recoverable.

Promising to come out with an action plan, Chidambaram said government wants to put in place a proper procedure at the chief commissioners and Income Tax Appellate Tribunal levels to collect a tidy sum of about Rs 7,000-8,000 crore (Rs 70-80 billion) which were easily recoverable.

On his part, the finance minister said he would approach Chief Justice of India and Chief Justice of high courts to take up big tax cases quickly. The government also proposes to come up with a media campaign as part of the multi-pronged approach to recover arrears.

A 3-stage approach would be adopted -- tax authorities would first issue notices to companies and individuals who have not cleared arrears. Then they would be called. And if that does not work, taxmen would go after them.

Chidambaram expressed awe at the number of people buying airline tickets, luxury cars and expensive watches worth millions of rupees and said if so many people can afford such lifestyle, why are they still out of the tax net.

Chidambaram asked taxmen to look into the 'life-style expenditures' and trace those transactions to find potential non-salaried taxpayers.

He said the number of cars is far more than the number of people paying taxes. Moreover, there has been a spurt in the number of people owning high-end cars costing Rs 500,000 or more.

Even the number of people buying executive class airline tickets was growing fast, he said, adding that a large section of these people were still out of tax net.

It is not salaried class that posed problem as they are already in the tax net, Chidambaram said. The concern was with a growing section of non-salaried class, who were enjoying all the luxuries of life and yet not paying taxes, he added.

The finance minister also warned that punitive action would be taken on those tax officials against whom repeated complaints were received.

Chidambaram asked taxmen to beware of 'friends' using his name or his Minister of State S S Palanimanickam's name to dodge taxes or curry favours.

He asked them to ring him up and talk to him directly if such instances confront them.