The Supreme Court will on Monday hear the bail plea of activist Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case.

A bench, comprising Justices U U Lalit and K M Joseph, had on March 15 asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file its response on the bail plea of the activist, and decided to hear the same on March 22.

The apex court had taken note of the submission of Additional Solicitor General S V Raju that NIA be granted more time to file its response to the plea.

The activist had moved the top court on February 19 against the Bombay High Court order of February 8 dismissing his bail plea.

Navlakha has been seeking statutory bail under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on the ground that the NIA did not file the charge sheet within the stipulated 90-day period, making him entitled for grant of default bail.