The Supreme Court on Friday declined to stay the Bombay High Court order acquitting former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba of alleged Maoist links, but agreed to list the National Investigation Agency’s appeal for urgent hearing on Saturday morning.

The Supreme Court does not normally sit on Saturdays. But it has done so on rare occasions to conduct special hearings on urgent matters.

Around 4pm, as the court of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was about to rise for the day, solicitor-general Tushar Mehta had rushed in with a plea.

He wanted an immediate stay on the high court judgment and urgent hearing of the NIA’s appeal against it.

Mehta told the bench, which included Justice Hima Kohli, that if the verdict was not stayed, Saibaba could be released on bail before the apex court reopened on Monday.

He said he had been forced to mention the matter before the bench of Justice Chandrachud as the bench of Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit had already risen for the day.

Justice Chandrachud turned down Mehta’s oral plea for a stay, saying: “We cannot stay the acquittal.”

The bench added that a formal notice needed to be issued to the accused before the matter could be heard.

Initially, the court said it would list the matter only on Monday. However, at Mehta’s request, the bench allowed him to mention the matter before the registrar and seek suitable instructions from the Chief Justice for its listing on Saturday.

Following a request from the NIA to Justice Lalit through the registry, the matter was listed for hearing at 11am on Saturday before the bench of Justice M.R. Shah and Justice Bela Trivedi.