Central institutions fill over 30,000 posts; SC, ST, OBC ones more slowly: Education ministry data

The central government is filling staff positions in central universities on “mission mode” but is slower with posts for reserved categories, data shows. The education ministry told Lok Sabha on Monday that 30,720 vacancies in central higher education institutions have been filled till January 24, 2026 and 58% of them were faculty positions.

Of the new appointees, 17,878 are in faculty positions and the remaining 12,842 are non-teaching staff.

Of the total number of posts filled, 11,794 were reserved; 3,692 of the new joinees are from Scheduled Castes, 1,561 from Scheduled Tribes and 6,541 from Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Samajwadi Party’s Lalji Verma, MP from Katehari constituency in Uttar Pradesh, had raised the question.

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Reserved posts filled

According to central government policy, around 50% seats are reserved for historically-marginalised communities – 15% seats at all levels are reserved for Dalits (SC), 7.5% for Adivasis (Scheduled Tribes) and 27% for OBCs.

However, government institutions have repeatedly faced criticism for not filling reserved posts. Recently, a parliamentary standing committee report accused Allahabad University, other central institutions of bypassing the reservation policy using the “not-found-suitable” excuse for candidates from historically-marginalised communities and the posts earmarked for them.

By January, 17,878 teaching positions had been filled but only 6,866 of them – under 40% – were reserved, suggesting that reserved teaching posts are filled more slowly than general category ones. Also, reserved non-teaching posts are filled more speedily than teaching ones.

Since 2021, all universities have been asked to fill all their vacancies in mission mode. From 2014 till 2024, government has filled over 50,000 vacant posts in central institutes, Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs).

In 2024, a total of 2,648 teaching and 4,340 non-teaching posts were found to be vacant in central universities.