Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for appointment of judges to the higher judiciary needs to be made transparent and objective. He said it has many limitations, which have been pointed even by the Supreme Court judges themselves. The Minister was replying to a discussion on a Calling Attention matter on the situation arising out of the impasse in the appointment of judges in the High Courts and Supreme Court. He said NDA government is committed to independence of judiciary.<br/><br/>He said there is no impasse between the government and the judiciary. He said the Supreme Court has asked the government to reframe the MoP to improve upon it. The Minister said the Apex court also stressed the need for improvement in the functioning of the Collegium.<br/><br/>Earlier, the Minister urged the members not to raise any matter that would adversely affect the ongoing talks between the government and the judiciary on the revision of memorandum of procedure for the appointment of judges. He said the talks are being held to resolve the impasse following the apex court's judgment invalidating the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act of 2014 as unconstitutional and void. <br/><br/>He said simultaneously, the Supreme Court revived the Collegium System for appointment of judges to higher judiciary. The Minister said during 2016, 110 additional judges have been made permanent and 52 fresh appointment of judges have been made. The proposals for appointments have been received from High Courts from February 2016 onwards. He said the whole process as per the Memorandum of Procedure will six months as states, intelligence bureau and Supreme Court Collegium are consulted and then the case is processed for approval. <br/><br/>Members, who participated in the discussion, favoured filling the vacancies in high courts and Supreme Court speedily. Initiating the discussion Vivek K Tankha of the Congress suggested judicial reforms. Satish ChandraMishra of the BSP pleaded for filling the judicial vacancies giving representation to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and minorities.