VIJAYAWADA: Expressing displeasure over the non-payment of dues to a contractor who had supplied food to a Covid-19 Care Centre (CCC), the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday asked the principal secretary (medical and health) and commissioner, health to explain the matter in person on March 11.
A private hotel in Srikakulam had supplied food to the CCCs in 2021 and submitted Rs 2.04 crore-bills for payment. The bills, however, were not cleared till now. The hotel owner, M Nagaraju, approached the court seeking relief.
Petitioner’s counsel K Ramesh Babu informed the court that repeated requests to the authorities concerned went in vain. The counsel, representing the medical and health department, said the bills were processed and the same were uploaded on to the Centralised Funds Management System (CFMS) in 2021.
Justice B Devanand held the principal secretary (medical and health) and commissioner, health, responsible and included the latter as a respondent. The court asked the officials to appear before it personally and give reasons for the non-payment of the bills. The matter was posted to March 11 for further hearing.