The finance departments of Bihar and Jharkhand have finally fallen back on the banks to extract details of the pensioners to resolve the decades-old issue of division of pension liability between the two states, which has been awaiting resolution since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in November 2000, officials familiar with the matter said.
As per the latest direction of the ministry of Home affairs (MHA), which is arbitrator with respect to deciding assets and liabilities between the two states under the Bihar Reorganisation Act (BRA) 2000, Bihars additional chief secretary (finance) S Siddharth called on his Jharkhand counterpart Ajay Kumar Singh in Ranchi last week and agreed to resolve the contentious issue of pension liabilities after matching the Bihar governments claim for843 crore to settle the issue.