The 69 names have been recommended by collegiums of 23 high courts
The Law Ministry is learnt to have forwarded names of 69 candidates to the Supreme Court collegium for appointment as high court judges.
According to established procedure, the high court collegiums send names of candidates shortlisted by them to the Law Ministry, which in turns forwards these to the Supreme Court collegium for a final call.
The Law Ministry attaches IB reports about the candidates before forwarding the names to the Supreme Court collegium.
The 69 names have been recommended by collegiums of 23 high courts.
Once the recommendations reach the top court collegium, it will take a final call and going by precedents, nearly 40 per cent of the names recommended by high courts are rejected by it.
This year, 34 judges have been appointed in the 24 high courts.
In 2016, 126 high court judges were appointed, which the government claims was the highest since independence.
Average appointments of high court judges have been 86 per year.