Bihar could end up losing the regional office of the Central Board of Secondary Education to Jharkhand as the state government is yet to provide land or building for the centre.

At present, the regional office (Bihar and Jharkhand) runs out of a rented accommodation in Sheikhpura. The CBSE headquarters pays Rs 3.96 lakh every month as rent to the owner. Amid this logjam, Jharkhand has offered the central board free land and a building to set up the regional office in Ranchi.

The regional office controls the affiliated schools of Bihar and Jharkhand and shifting of the office to Ranchi would cause inconvenience to the CBSE schools in Bihar.

While authorities of the CBSE schools in the city are worried about the likely shift of the regional office to the Jharkhand capital, the government is yet to make its stand clear on the issue. Repeated attempts to speak to education minister Ashok Choudhary proved futile.

A CBSE official said: "The regional office submitted a land requisition letter to the Bihar government in December last year but did not get any assurance. We are trying to get our own building for the past three years."

CBSE regional officer R.R. Meena refused to comment on the issue. He, however, did hint at problems in functioning of the regional office because of the lack of a proper set-up. "The office does not have proper infrastructure. Very few people want to come here, which has led to an employee crunch."

The regional office employees claimed they have to take on the workload of four people. To make matters worse, there is not a single person to assist them, so the employees end up carrying files from one table to another, delaying the work process.

The CBSE regional office in Patna was established in 2007-2008. In 2012, the regional office changed its accommodation from Fraser Road to Sheikhpura. At present, 30 employees work at the office against a requirement of 74.

Shamael Ahmed, the president of the Private School and Children's Welfare Association, said there are 144 CBSE affiliated schools in Patna and about 60 in Ranchi. "We will protest if the CBSE shifts its office from Patna. We will also ask the CBSE to separate the regional offices of Bihar and Jharkhand," he added.

"Paperwork and academic process will be affected with this change. Paper scrutiny, day-to-day learning activities and evaluation will be delayed. Previously, when we had our regional office in Allahabad, we faced a lot of problems," said S.M. Jha, the vice-principal of Gyan Niketan.