More than 42 per cent teaching posts reserved for OBC, SC and ST candidates in 45 central universities are lying vacant, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

According to data shared by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply, 7,033 posts are sanctioned for Other Backward Classes (OBC), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates in central universities and out of these, 3,007 posts are vacant.

While 46 per cent posts (1665) for OBC are vacant, the vacant positions for SC and ST are 37 and 44 per cent respectively, it stated.

"A total of 517 posts for the three categories have been filled in 2023 so far," Pradhan said.

Among the positions filled in 2023, maximum are for the OBC category (285) followed by the SC (150) and the ST (82) categories, respectively.