HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court has issued notices to the AP Special Chief Secretary to medical, health and family welfare, commissioner of health and family welfare, managing director of AP Medical Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation and the director of Dhanush Infotech Private Limited for filing counter affidavits on a PIL filed challenging award of tender to the company for implementing the Centre-sponsored Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) in the State.
The programme is meant for providing health care to all the children up to 18 years of age. The bench passed this order on a PIL filed by Prajadhana Parirakshnana Samithi, a society represented by its president I Venkata Rama Raju from Vijayawada, complaining that the authorities have failed to take action on the representation made by it alleging fraud played by the Dhanush company in getting the tender for the said work.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the Central government has launched the RBSK programme in 2013. Initially, the AP government implemented the scheme on its own, but later decided to outsource it to private agencies. The Centre sanctioned `74 crore per annum for its implementation. On October 31 last year, the APMSIDC floated tenders for implementing RBSK by mentioning eligibility criteria, which included that the bidder should have at least three years of experience in providing medical care at community level.
Later, the authorities have awarded the tender to Dhanush. In fact, the company deals with software and hardware solutions, not community health care, but participated in the tendering process by submitting fabricated documents claiming experience. Though representations were made to the AP ACB and the CBI director in New Delhi, no action was taken out, he pointed out.
The court adjourned the case to December 22.