NEW DELHI: Luxury cars, acres of farmland and buildings in prime locations — some of the assets worth more than Rs 16,000 crore that the Enforcement Directorate has seized — could soon be handed over to an agency to manage while their fate is being decided.“These assets are lying idle... They can be put to better use,” a senior government official said. If nothing else, at least their value needs to be preserved, he said.Most of the assets are under provisional attachment and thus cannot be sold by the government to enforce penal provisions or recover dues. The government is also looking at the option of getting some revenue in the form of rentals from the properties.This follows a sharp increase in assets seized in recent years in the wake of the government’s crackdown on black money. The Enforcement Directorate attached property worth Rs 9,300 crore in 2016, up sharply from Rs 3,640 crore in the previous year. Some of the assets attached are tied to bank frauds and revenue loss caused to the government.As the government has persisted with its campaign against black money, the value of assets seized should have risen sharply in the current calendar year as well.The official said the government is looking at either an independent agency that would have some expertise in managing such assets such as NBCC or its subsidiaries. Given that NBCC is a public sector company, entrusting the assets to it directly or through an arm should not face any hurdles, the person said.ED keeps tabs on violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act in its pursuit of wrongdoers. Since demonetisation in November 2016, ED has attached assets allegedly tied to black money worth Rs 9,000 crore. It has also registered 3,700 cases under FEMA and PMLA and has taken action against 1,000 shell companies.