The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to accord urgent listing of former Calcutta police commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s plea for extension of the seven-day protection from arrest granted to him in the Saradha scam.

Kumar has rushed to the top court seeking indefinite extension of shield from arrest on the ground that work in trial courts in Calcutta and Calcutta High Court has been paralysed because of the ongoing strike by lawyers.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had on May 17 withdrawn the protection from arrest granted earlier to Kumar and said it would continue for seven days to enable him to approach the competent court for relief.

Kumar’s counsel approached the vacation bench of the apex court on Monday seeking the urgent listing of his plea. He was told that since the May 17 order had been passed by a three-judge bench, he could approach the apex court registry or the secretary general for listing of the matter before an appropriate bench.

The counsel then aproached the registrar (judicial). “The matter was placed before the Chief Justice of India today morning and request for urgent listing was rejected by him,” said a lawyer.