Amid demands for greater transparency in appointment of judges to higher judiciary, government today said it is working on a proposal to put in place a new system to change the present mechanism where a collegium of judges has a larger say in such decisions.

Law minister Ashwani Kumar said there was a "large political consensus" to put in place the alternative mechanism.

Under the present Collegium system, the executive has no say in appointments of judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as the recommendations of the Collegium are final and binding on the government.

"There seems to be a large political consensus on the need for having an alternative mechanism...principle of it is, may be an alternative system for appointment which ensures greater transparency and better inputs to ensure that the best are selected to judiciary. It is still under consideration," Kumar told reporters here.

He said though the proposal was still going several changes, the proposed National Judicial Commission could be headed by the Chief Justice of India.

In reply to a poser, he refused to say whether the new body would have the Prime Minister or the Leader of the Opposition as its members. One of the initial drafts is understood to have suggested that the PM and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha be part of the Commission.

"There has been a view that we could consider that the collegium system has had its utility...whatever is required will be done and if we can do it we shall do it. Otherwise, we'll see what is the best way possible," the minister said, noting that the move might entail a Constitutional amendment which needs the backing of two-thirds members of a particular House of Parliament.

India may be among the few countries in the world where judges appoint themselves. This practice started after 1993, replacing the system of government picking judges for higher judiciary comprising Supreme Court and 21 High Courts.

The move to set aside the 1993 Supreme Court judgement which led to the Collegium system will require a Constitutional amendment.

The last effort to replace the collegium system in 2003 could not succeed. The then NDA government introduced a Constitution Amendment Bill, but the Lok Sabha was dissolved when the bill was before a Standing Committee.

A vision statement of the Law Ministry issued in October, 2009 had said the Collegium system was hindering the efforts to end shortage of judges and suggested involvement of executive and legislature to hunt for the best talent.

Replying to a volley of questions on a controversial clause in the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill which seeks to debars judges from making verbal comments against any constitutional authority in open courts, Kumar insisted it was not a "gag order".

"I would like to very categorically dispel that nothing in the Bill should be treated as a gag order. We hope to bring in a provision which will only reiterate that the Supreme Court has already stated in a number of its judgements which states that courts must refrain from making observations against anyone where such observations are not strictly necessary for the decision of the case before the court," he said.

A few days ago, Kumar had said that the government has decided to retain the clause "in some form."

The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session this year amid din over Telangana.