The Supreme Court on Friday said the collegium had made several recommendations for the appointment of judges, but accused the Centre of delaying them, ANI reported. The SC bench said courtrooms across the country were being locked out because of a lack of judges, and that "Executive inaction is decimating the judiciary".

The apex court was hearing a petition filed about the delay in the appointment of judges to various high courts. The collegium had recommended 35 appointments for the Allahabad High Court, which is functioning at less than half its recommended strength at the moment. The first batch of recommendations were forwarded to the Centre in January, reported ANI.

During the last hearing, Chief Justice of India TS Thakur had said that the court would pass a verdict to fix accountability if the matter did not get resolved quickly. In September, the Centre had notified the appointment of 25 judges, while the Supreme Court collegium had recommended more than 100 appointments.

The collegium system was in the spotlight last year after the Centre had asked for more transparency with regard to its decision making and tried to set up the National Judicial Appointments Commission, which included members of the Executive. The Supreme Court, however, had restored the system that allows judges to select other judges.