1. This is a petition under Art.226 of the Constitution of India for issue of a writ of mandamus or other appropriate writ, order or direction to the Central Government and to the State Government of Andhra Pradesh (1) directing both the Governments not to take any action likely to prejudice the rights of the petitioners accruing from the decision taken by the Government of India contained in the letter No. 11/54/58 S.R. (s) dated 29th October 1959 and that taken by the State Government contained in G.O. Ms. No. 227 dated 31-1-1963 and (2) more particularly restraining the State Government from implementing the Central Government's decision permitting the Assistant Surgeons of erstwhile Hyderabad State to count their continuous service in the Health Wing prior to 1-11-1956 for purposes of promotion to the grade of Assistant Director of Public Health, Andhra Pradesh.

2. The petitioners are from the service personnel of the Public Health department of the State of Andhra Pradesh and the respondents 3 to 13, save for one, are from Medical and Health department of the erstwhile Hyderabad State. The controversy is the sequel of the process of division and integration of service personnel