New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted the Maharatra government a period of one week to file a counter-affidavit to the bail plea filed by lawyer Surendra Gadling, who is behind bars in connection with the 2016 Surjagarh iron ore mine arson case.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih was hearing a special leave petition filed by Gadling against the dismissal of his appeal filed under Section 21(4) of the NIA (National Investigation Agency) Act seeking bail.

"Leave granted. In the event the respondent wants to file an affidavit, they may do so within a period of one week. List on regular hearing day after two weeks," the bench ordered.

As per the details available on the website of the apex court, the matter is likely to be taken up for further hearing on January 3.

In October, the top court had agreed to examine Gadling’s plea and called for a response from the Maharashtra government.

The anti-terror agency charged Gadling for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with Maoist rebels to set ablaze 76 trucks which were carrying iron ore from Surajgarh mines in Maharashtra. He is further alleged to be involved in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad violence - where clashes erupted between various caste groups after "provocative" speeches were given by the activists of Kabir Kala Manch on December 31, 2017 in Pune.

Gadling had claimed that he is a criminal law practitioner with over 25 years of practice and was falsely implicated in the case, adding that there is no prima facie case against him and the evidence brought on record by the prosecution is neither reliable nor admissible.