ORDER :

(Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, J.)

By filing this Letters Patent Appeal, the petitioner in W.P.(S) No.5323 of 2022, has assailed order passed by learned Single Judge on 21.12.2022, disposing his writ application on the ground that the entire retirement benefits have already been paid to the petitioner and the petitioner is at liberty to opt for Old Pension Scheme in terms of Notification dated 21.09.2022 issued by the Finance Department, Government of Jharkhand.

2. Counsel for the appellant-petitioner submits that in this case, the appellant-petitioner is entitled to the retirement benefits since the date he was engaged in the work-charged establishment.

3. The facts of the case are not in dispute. Petitioner had filed the writ petition with a prayer to issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to pay pensionary benefits to the petitioner, counting his initial date of joining from 01.12.1981. It is needless to go into the pleadings raised by the petitioners, suffice it would be to take into consideration the Counter Affidavit filed by the Executive Engineer, Drinking Water & Sanitation Division, Pakur. He has categorically admitted that the petitioner was initially appointed