Over 4.12 lakh posts were lying vacant in various Central Government organisations in 2016, the Centre said in a written reply to Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Out of the total of 4,12,752 vacancies, 15,284 were Group 'A' posts, 76,050 in Group 'B' and 3,21,418 in Group 'C' categories, it said.

The vacancies are based on the annual report on pay and allowances of central government civilian employees' for 2016-17 as on March 1, 2016 published by Pay Research Unit, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, the reply said.

"The posts falling vacant are required to be filled as per recruitment rules by the concerned ministries/departments/organisations," Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said.

The filling up of posts is a continuous process depending on the vacancies arising across ministries and departments during the year and action calender of the recruiting agencies, he said.