The Supreme Court Collegium comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath interacted with 54 candidates for High Court judgeship over the past two days.

As reported earlier today, the Collegium has been holding meetings and interviews with candidates since Tuesday, July 1 to fill up vacancies in various High Courts including those of Madhya Pradesh, Patna, Allahabad, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gauhati and Delhi.

Sources close to the Collegium confirmed that the body responsible for judicial appointments interacted with 20 candidates on the first day and 34 candidates on the second day.

The Collegium has opted for a different approach including thorough interviews with candidates to assess them better and gauge their calibre. Some interactions lasted half an hour, since those candidates required deeper scrutiny, while some candidates had shorter interactions.

The change in tack comes in the wake of the ongoing controversy around Justice Yashwant Varma and allegations of unaccounted cash found at his residence. The judiciary has also come under scrutiny after the Allahabad High Court's Justice Shekhar Yadav attracted controversy for his remarks against the Muslim community.

As on July 1, there are 371 vacancies in the 25 High Courts across the country.