JUDGMENT

D.P. Wadhwa, J.-Judgment dated De-cember 20, 1991 of the Andhra Pradesh Admin-istrative Tribunal (for short Tribunal ) is im-pugned before us. By this judgment the Tribunal gave a direction that Accountants belonging to Subordinate Accounts Service (SAS) of the Ac-countant General Office who were working on the date of take over as the Divisional Account-ants in the State Service shall also be given op-tion to be absorbed in State as per GOM(s) 304 of November 20, 1979 issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. According to the appellant the State of Andhra Pradesh the GOM 304 con-templated option only from Divisional Account-ants in the Accountants General Office on the date of take over in the State service.

2. As to how the controversy arose can be best seen by reference to GOM 304 itself. As to the necessity for creating a separate service for State of the Divisional Accountants, it records as under:

"The posts of Divisional Accountants are created by the State Government in the Public Works Divisions of Irrigation in-cluding Major Projects, Roads and Build-ings and Public Health etc., but the ad-ministrative control i.e., recruitment to the posts, appointments, transfers, disci-plinary control etc., vest with the Ac-countant-General, Andhra Pradesh. How-ever, in their day to day working, the Di-visional Accountants come under the immediate control of Executive Engi-neers of the Divisions. They assist the Executive Engineers to render accounts to the Accountant-General, Andhra Pradesh, which are different from the ac-counts maintained in the Treasuries. Their pay and allowances and service conditions are at present governed by the Central Government rules but they are paid by the State Government.

2. The question of taking over the cadre of Divisional Accountants from the ad-ministrative control of the Accountant-General, Andhra Pradesh has been under consideration of the State Government for some time past. A Three Man Committee was appointed by the State Government in G.O. Ms. No. 663, Irrigation and Power (Service-III) Department, dated 3rd September 1976 to advise the Gov-ernment on the desirability or otherwise of taking over the cadre of Divisional Ac-countants from the administrative control of the Accountant-General, Andhra Pradesh. The Three Man Committee after going through the various points at issue and studying the set up in other states recommended that the cadre of Divisional Accountants be taken over by the State Government as early as possible. The re-port was first examined in detail by the Irrigation and Power Department in con-sultation with the concerned Department viz., Transport, Roads and Buildings, Housing, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Panchayat Raj and Finance and Planning. The recommenda-tions of the Three Man Committee were again examined by Secretaries to Gov-ernment, Finance and Planning, Irrigation and Power, Transport, Roads and Buildings, Panchayat Raj and Housing, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Departments. They agreed in principle with the recommendation of Three Man Committee for the take over of the cadre of Divisional Accountants by the State Government. The Accountant-General, Andhra Pradesh was addressed in the reference 1st read above to obtain the concurrence of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India for the State Government taking over the administra-tion of Divisional Accountants in this State. The Accountant-General, Andhra Pradesh in his D.O. letter fourth read above had conveyed the approval of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of In-dia to the transfer of the Cadres of Divi-sional Accountants to the State Govern-ment.

3. After a detailed examination in consul-tation with the Accountant-General, An-dhra Pradesh and in order to have proper control over expenditure and over ac-counts matters generally in Divisional Offices which is very essential and im-portant in view of the heavy expenditure incurred in various engineering depar