India, Dec. 15 -- After years of delay, the long-pending recruitment of professors in Maharashtra's universities and senior colleges is finally set to move forward. The state government has decided to employ professors based on a new 60:40 merit-based evaluation formula, clearing a major administrative and legal hurdle that had stalled the process.

Making the announcement in the legislative council on Saturday, higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil said that although around 12,000 professor posts are currently lying vacant across the state, the finance department has granted approval to fill 5,012 posts in the first phase with recruitment for the remaining posts to be taken up subsequently.

Under the newly approved s...