The Chief Justice of India has rejected the government's move to put in place a committee of retired judges to evaluate the applications of candidates before forwarding them to the collegium. <br/><br/>According to a news agency, Justice T S Thakur expressed his reservations over the clause in the revised draft memorandum of procedure, MoP in a recent meeting with senior Union Ministers including Sushma Swaraj and D V Sadananda Gowda who drafted the MoP. The meeting was aimed at narrowing down the differences between the executive and the judiciary on the MoP.<br/><br/>Parliament had enacted the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act to do away with the over two-decade old collegium system where judges appoint judges.<br/><br/>The law was struck down by the apex court on October 16 last year.<br/>A Supreme Court bench, while deciding on ways to make the collegium system more transparent, had asked the Centre to redraft the MoP in consultation with the states. <br/><br/>The MoP is a document which guides the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the 24 high courts. At present, there are two MoPs –one for the apex court and another for the high courts.