ORDER :- A pensioner since 16 years is knocking at the doors of the court of justice and the executive in search of his hard earned pension and is being rebuffed by these who would meet the same fate by the passage of time and yet with his meagre resources, he has been dragged to the apex court for the second time after a lapse of 12 years during which abominably long period the mandamus of this Court has been treated as a scrap of paper. What a pity, and what helplessness?

2. The facts relevant to the disposal of this petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution are set out in details in Deokinandan Prasad v. State of Bihar, (1971) Supp SCR 634 and therefore, need not be recapitulated here. A Constitution Bench presided over by the then Chief Justice Mr. Sikri issued a mandamus in the writ petition filed by the present petitioner which reads as under :

"The order dated Aug. 5, 1966 declaring under R. 76 of the Service Code that the petitioner has ceased to be in government employ is set aside and quashed. The order dated June 12, 1968 stating that under Rule 46 of the Pension Rules, the Department is unable to grant the petitioner pension is also set aside and quashed. As the petition