India, Dec. 14 -- The government has begun taking steps to fill the hundreds of posts of lecturers and assistant professors lying vacant in universities and colleges across the state, said higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil at the legislative council on Saturday.

Congress member Pragya Satav first brought up the large number of vacancies and delays in recruitment. She said that many teaching posts had remained unfilled for several years, adversely affecting the quality of higher education in the state.

Responding to her concerns, Patil said that a government resolution issued on October 3, 2018, had approved filling up 40%, or 3,580, assistant professor posts in aided colleges, privately run institutions that rece...