Hyderabad: Issuing an order on Wednesday, over supplying diet food to children and mothers in Niloufer Hospital, the Telangana high court gave three weeks’ time to the government to take action against food contractor Koduri Suresh Babu.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, while hearing a petition filed by P Bhagavanth Rao against the contractor asked the government to take immediate against the erring food contractor and notify him before taking action.
During the hearing, advocate general BS Prasad admitted that Suresh had indulged in tampering of bills and claimed double the amount in a fraudulent manner. According to him, the probe authorities have found several irregularities committed by the contractor who claimed excess funds by furnishing tampered bills.
The judges asked the state counsel what action the government had taken on the errant contractor. They further asked “Why are you continuing the contractor as a diet contractor in Gandhi and Chest hospitals?” the Times of India quoted them as saying.
After Bommineni Vivekananda, counsel for the petitioner, disclosed that the government had entrusted new contracts to the same contractor despite his track record, the judges reprimanded the government by asking if it is giving him a chance to commit another crime? And asked the state government to take action against him immediately.
Urging the court to direct the government to follow principles of natural justice before proceeding against the food contractor, senior counsel Dammalapati Srinivas, who appeared for Suresh said: “He should be notified and his version must be heard before taking any action”.
Questioning the inaction of the government against the contractor, Bhagavanth Rao contended that Suresh was swindling public money meant to be spent on children and women. He added that the previous probe committees had proved the guilt of the contractor.