The federal government sought a stay order from the Supreme Court against its November 28 verdict in the extension of the army chief's service on Thursday. 

The federal government requests the apex court “to accept the application and suspend/stay the operation of the impugned judgment dated November 28, 2019, in the interest of justice," in it's plea, making this the second petiton filed by the government in this high-profile case. 

The plea further insists that, "the petitioners have a strong prima facie case to succeed; hence the operation of the impugned judgement may be suspended/stayed till the final decision of this civil review petition." It states that the "balance of convenience lies in favour of the petitioners" and that the petitioners will suffer from "irreparable loss,” if the injunction is not granted.

The chief justice of the Supreme Court was once again asked to "constitute a larger bench comprising five judges so as to hear the review petition.”