BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly amended the Orissa Forest Act, 1972, and raised the offence compounding ceiling to Rs 5,000, up from Rs 100. The Act empowered forest officers to compound certain offences and stipulated that no offence shall be compounded if the market value of the forest produce involved exceeded Rs 100. With market price of forest produce going up manifold over the last few years, there is hardly any offence which involves produce less than ` 100. As cases are sent to the court for prosecution, a bitterness between tribals and forest-dwellers against the State machinery had crept in. While the State Government had earlier decided to drop minor forest offence cases against tribals, Assembly amended the Act by substituting Rs 100 for Rs 5,000. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty, who introduced the Bill on behalf of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, also the Forest Minister, said the State Government had already withdrawn 9,940 minor forest offence cases against the tribals. The amended Act will be called Orissa Forest (Amendment) Act , 2011.