PATNA, June 19 -- Bihar Lok Bhawan has issued strict guidelines with clear timeline regarding transfer of teaching staff to all the vice chancellors of the state universities and asked them to ensure strict adherence. Additional Chief Secretary to the Governor, Dipak Kumar Singh, has clearly stated that arbitrary transfer of teaching staff at any point of time during the academic session "often results in disruption of teaching-learning activities, administrative inconvenience and avoidable litigation". The guidelines have been issued in order to ensure transparency, uniformity, and academic continuity. "Universities shall ensure that transfers are not undertaken arbitrarily or for extraneous considerations and that the process remains fair, transparent, and free from any perception of personal bias or vendetta," he wrote. As per the guidelines, the transfer of teaching staff shall ordinarily be undertaken once in a year, in June coinciding with the summer vacation, and shall not be treated as routine, continuous exercise throughout the academic session. "No transfer of teaching personnel shall be undertaken during any other period, except in exceptional circumstances and with the approval of the competent authority. The transfer orders should be issued strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Bihar State Universities Act, 1976, the relevant statutes and such instructions as may be issued by the competent authority," says the letter. Singh has also underlined that transfers shall be guided by objective criteria, including institutional requirements, availability of sanctioned strength, subject-wise faculty distribution, reservation and roster requirements, student strength, and academienecessity. Any transfer proposed outside the annual transfer cycle and beyond the month of June, owing to exceptional, unavoidable, emergent, or compassionate circumstances, shall be undertaken only after obtaining the prior approval of the Chancellor's Secretariat, along with a detailed justification and recommendation for the need of such transfer. "Cases involving transfer outside the ordinarily permissible norms or brackets shall be considered only on extreme compassionate grounds and shall require the approval of the Chancellor. Any compassionate transfer cases already pending consideration before the universities or the Chancellor's Secretariat may, however, continue to be processed in accordance with the applicable rules and procedures,"'the guidelines states. The universities have been asked to ensure that any transfer of teaching personnel does not adversely affect the teaching arrangements....