Jamshedpur, Oct. 31 -- The Jharkhand High Court (HC) on Thursday rapped the state health department hard for transfusion of HIV infected blood to the thalassemic children and sought to know how blood banks are operating in the state without licence, people aware of the matter said on Thursday. The state health secretary Ajay Kumar Singh, the special health secretary and project director of Jharkhand State AIDS Control Society (JSACS) Dr Neha Arora and state drug controller Ritu Sahay were present in person in the court during the hearing of the case, initiated by the HC after taking suo moto cognizance. "The double bench of chief justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and justice Rajesh Shankar ordered the state government to file affidavit mentioning the details of the blood donation camps by the government and private hospitals in the state. Detailed data in terms of the requirement of blood in the hospitals across the state and present availability has also been asked. The bench also directed the government to prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) for effective execution of the National Blood Policy (NBP) in the state," a senior lawyer, privy to the hearing, told HT on Thursday. He said that the HC also sought to know as to how blood banks are operating without license and why NAT test systems are not available in the hospitals even now. "The court has been hearing a similar case earlier too and giving instructions to the government. Yet, why no effective action was not taken to stop repeat of such incidents in Ranchi and Chaibasa! Why license renewal of the blood banks are pending for two years? Why blood donation in lieu of money in hospitals couldn't be stopped," the bench said in its verbal observation. State advocate general Rajiv Ranjan told the court that the state government has been holding blood donation camps in its hospitals. "SOP is being prepared for effective implementation of the NBP and nucleai acid test (NAT) machines will be set up at all the districts," Ranjan told the court on behalf of the state government....