The Centre on Friday approved 34 of the 77 names recommended for high court appointments by the collegium of judges. The remaining 43 names were not cleared by the government and their files were returned to the collegium, which is headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, The Times of India reported.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that no files on the matter were left with the central government. The collegium was also yet to respond to the draft Memorandum of Procedure on the appointments of judges submitted to it by the Centre, Rohatgi told the court. The court had directed the Centre to prepare the memorandum in consultation with the chief justice following its ruling against the establishment of the National Judicial Appointments Commission in October 2015.

Thakur said the collegium would hold its next meeting on November 15. He also posted the matter for its next hearing on November 18.

The collegium system of appointing judges is one by which the judiciary appoints the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts of India. It came into force in 1993, but was ousted by the Parliament in April 2015. The National Judicial Appointments Commission, which gave the government the power to appoint judges, was then proposed. The NJAC was struck down as unconstitutional in October that year by the Supreme Court, after which the apex court upheld that it was open to bringing in more transparency in the system of appointing judges.