Bihar and Jharkhand Settle Their 13-Year Old Non-Dispute Over Delhi’s Bihar Niwas, Thanks To SC’s Prodding

On Tuesday, August 22, the Supreme Court bench of Justices Madan B.Lokur and Deepak Gupta, gave its stamp of approval to the agreement reached between Bihar and Jharkhand over apportioning one of the Bihar Government’s guest houses, Bihar Niwas, and Bihar Bhawan in the Capital, following the creation of separate state of Jharkhand in 2000.

As directed by the Supreme Court earlier, the Union Home Secretary, chaired the meeting with the Chief Secretaries of Bihar and Jharkhand Governments on August 21 to resolve the dispute, which has been pending in the Supreme Court since 2004, with Justice Lokur once observing that it is a trivial non-dispute, and should have been resolved amicably by the officials  concerned.

The following decisions were taken at the meeting:

• Both the States are having two properties in Delhi, status quo would be maintained;


• The Government of Bihar would pay compensation to the Government of Jharkhand in lieu of extinguished claims on the Bihar Bhawan and Bihar Niwas, in the ratio as determined on the basis of population ratio of the two States; and


• The valuation of the property would be done by the Ministry of Urban Development as per the accepted principle, notified by Ministry of Urban Development.

The Union Home Secretary, and the two Chief Secretaries have signed the minutes of the meeting, before submitting it to the bench.

During the hearing, when the counsel for Jharkhand expressed his disappointment over what the State has got, Justice Lokur told him: “Don’t indulge in shadow boxing here.  Your own Chief Secretary has signed it”.