Indian Express reported that while Orissa vigilance sleuths and mines department officials are scratching their heads trying to find out the extent and dimensions of the mining scam, official documents reveal that the magnitude of the scam could be anything over INR 14000 crore.

The Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court headed by former bureaucrat Mr PV Jayakrishnan would soon start investigating the violation of forest laws following a petition by Orissa based journalist Mr Rabi Das.

Mr Jayakrishnan chairman of CEC said the panel has not got the formal notification of the probe order as yet. He told The Indian Express that "We will decide about the modalities of the probe and the dates after we see the notification.”

But the fact is that the scam goes beyond violation of forest laws only. Evidence available with The Indian Express shows the real scam was mining in excess of the limits set by the authorities. This violated the existing environmental laws.

(Sourced from Indian Express)