The application had been filed by the accused on February 27, after the Gujarat High Court upheld the recommendations of the Central POTA Review Committee (CPRC). The two-judge bench headed by Justice Bhagwati Prasad also repealed the POTA charges on the accused. Observing that there was no evidence to suggest that the accused had entered a terror conspiracy, the bench had ordered shifting of the case from POTA court to the sessions court. But the bench stayed the order for two weeks, granting time to the petitioner, Sardarsinh Maganji Vaghela, to move the Supreme Court. On February 25, before the court-allotted time could expire, Vaghela and the state government filed a special leave petition seeking a stay on the high court order.

As a caveat had already been filed by the Godhra accused beseeching that no interim relief be granted on Vaghela’s petition without hearing them, the Supreme Court did not grant further stay on the high court order. The matter will come up for hearing on March 16.