New Delhi: One of the most sought after universities in the country, Delhi University (DU) is facing acute faculty shortage.

According to data received from the varsity, out of a total of 1003 vacant posts in 56 university departments, 284 posts (about 30 percent) have been lying unoccupied for many years and still have not been filled.

The sanctioned strength of Professors in various departments is 182 but only 110 posts have been filled, leaving 72 posts vacant.

The Department of Management Studies has been the worst affected with only 30 teachers working against the sanctioned strength of 47.

The situation is even more worrying at the Lecturer level where only 309 posts have been filled as against the sanctioned 422 posts.

Further, the 56 departments have only 300 readers out of the total of 399.

The Central Government has implemented the compulsory reservation policy for SC's (15 percent) / ST's (7.5 percent) in the appointment of teachers. DU, surprisingly, has only one professor from both SC/ST categories; 1 reader from the ST & 11 from the SC category; 23 lecturers from the SC & 6 from ST category.

The English Department does not have even a single professor, lecturer or reader from the SC/ST community.