After receiving diverse suggestions from various quarters on the improvement of the collegium system, the supreme court on Tuesday said that "there can't be wholesale change" in the system for the appointment of judges for high courts and supreme court.

It asked parties involved to respond by Thursday on four points-- transparency, minimum eligibility criteria, need for secretariat (office) and how to deal with complaints that come against prospective appointments.Commencing the hearing on reform in the collegium system, a constitution bench headed by Justice JS Khehar said that the response the court had received was "tremendous" and "diverse in nature" after its October 16 verdict, which quashed the National Judicial Appointment Commission Act.

"There are so many suggestions. They are so diverse in nature that we don't know how to proceed in the matter. The diversity is tremendous, unimaginable.....It would be better if someone from both sides (petitioners who challenged the NJAC and the government) compiles these suggestions for us. The good minds may sit together and can come out with something final," the bench said.

The court put the responsibility on senior advocate Arvind Dattar (petitioner lawyer) and government's counsel additional solicitor general (ASG) Pinky Anand to compile suggestions.

Appearing for the Centre, attorney general (AG) Mukul Rohatgi emphasised on the need for greater transparency and accountability of the collegium system.

Rohatgi argued for selection and rejection of candidature and also criteria for appointments and urged the bench put them in the public domain.

However, he suggested different criteria for high courts as all 29 high courts are not at the same footing. The high courts in metros are different from other high courts.

"You can't compare apples and oranges...,"the AG said.

Senior advocate Fali Nariman, on behalf of petitioner Advocate-on-record Association suggested that the secretariat for the collegium is functional all the time.

"It would announce vacancies available. The secretariat will publish vacancies on its website...," he said.

The court took several suggestions of All India Bar Associations, Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association, which recommended the adequate representation of women lawyers from the bar to the bench.

Noted advocates KK Venugopal, Anil Divan, Rajeev Dhawan, Arvind Dattar and Gopal Subramaniam have also asked for suggestions.