New Delhi, March 20 (IANS): Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday admitted that vacancies of teachers in universities was a "serious issue" but assured the Centre was taking appropriate steps to fill up the posts.

"Vacancies (of teachers) in universities is a serious issue and there are so many reasons for it. There are 41 central universities and the vacancies in them is 20 per cent," Javadekar informed the Lok Sabha during Question Hour. 

"We are doing everything to fill up the vacancies. Recruitment of the teachers is a continuous process and we are monitoring it very strictly," said the minister.

Javadekar assured the house that vacancies of teachers in the Delhi University would be filled within a year. 

"So far as Delhi University is concerned, we have solved the problem (vacancies) that was there for 10 years. We are tracking every month that new recruitment is on and would completely fill up the permanent posts in one year's time. The same we are doing in others (universities) as well," he said. 

Javadekar said a mechanism has been put in place for monitoring vacancies and the process of filling them up. 

"We have mandated that all vacancies are notified and every 15 days the information about them is updated. The information will be made available on the UGC website," he added.