JUDGMENT :

[J.J. Munir, J.]

1. This petition is directed against an order passed by the Additional/Joint Director, Treasury and Pension, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh dated 24.9.2017, requiring the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Raja Talab, Varanasi to submit a revised proposal for consideration of the petitioner's case for the grant of pension and other post-retiral benefits, after excluding the period of service rendered by him, prior to his regularisation, as a Lekhpal.

2. A counter-affidavit on behalf of respondent Nos. 3 and 5 jointly, and a separate counter-affidavit on behalf of respondent No. 4 have been filed. In reply to both these counter-affidavits, the petitioner has filed two separate rejoinders.

3. This petition was admitted on 8.12.2020, and the hearing had proceeded on that date. Later on, it was brought to the Court's notice that the rights of the petitioner to pension, reckoning the period of his continuous service rendered as a Lekhpal prior to regularisation, would now be governed by the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Qualifying Service of Pension and Validation Ordinance, 2020 (U.P. Ordinance 19 of 2020). The service book of the petitioner was summoned and retained on r