The principal chief conservator of forest has sent an order to the forest department clarifying that picking of scrap mica is indeed illegal. The order comes in the wake of recent trouble and a report submitted by the regional chief conservator of forest, Manraaj, in this regard. The directive sought to clear confusion over whether only mica mining was illegal. Principal chief conservator A.K. Singh said that under the 1980 forest law, even scrap mica picking was banned and no transportation and processing of it could be done.