All the vacant faculty positions in central higher-education institutions will be filled in the next six months, the government assured Parliament on Friday.

Human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” told the Lok Sabha that all the legal hurdles to recruitment had been removed. Nearly 7,000 teaching posts are vacant in centrally funded higher-education institutions.

“In the next six months, all the vacant posts will be filled. All the legal hurdles have been cleared. Recruitment will be carried on (on a) war footing,” Nishank said, replying to a debate on the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill 2019.

The bill, which sought to establish two central universities in Andhra Pradesh, was passed in the Lok Sabha.

Parliament had last week passed another bill providing for institution-wise implementation of teacher reservation, bypassing an Allahabad High Court order stipulating department-wise implementation, which would have reduced the quota posts.

After an uproar, the government had challenged the high court decision in the Supreme Court and restrained the universities from recruiting teachers under the new system. After losing the case in the apex court, the government got a law enacted for institution-wise reservation.

A few NDA members raised the subject of “anti-national slogans” at JNU in 2016 and said it should not happen elsewhere. Nishank said JNU was a leading research institution and its reputation would be maintained.