The Telangana High Court on Thursday pulled up the KCR government on why no action was initiated against the contractor over misappropriation of public funds in Niloufer Hospital.

The court directed the state government to thoroughly investigate the food scam and misappropriation of public funds in Niloufer Hospital by the contractor.

The contractor K Suresh Babu was found to be submitting inflated bills in connivance with the hospital management. According to earlier reports, the contractor supplied a high-protein diet as against normal food to patients. A panel was set up to probe into the food and diet supply and payments to the contractors.

The committee found that the scam was wide-spread in government hospitals. The panel found that the contractor submitted invoices showing supply of high-protein diet to 95 percent of children in Niloufer Hospital.

Hearing a petition, the High Court turned its ire against the government questioning why it had failed to take action five months after the committee had submitted a report on the scam.

The court questioned why the government was shielding the contractor. The contractor also supplies food in Gandhi Hospital and Government Chest Hospital. The court directed the government to investigate the matter thoroughly and submit a detailed report by August 16.