Supreme Court on Thursday returned deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's plea that it club the three references filed by the top anti-graft body against the Sharif family in pursuance of the court's verdict in the Panama Papers case. Earlier, Khawaja Haris, the counsel for Nawaz Sharif, had challenged the decision of the registrar's office of the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar declared that the plea could not be entertained because Nawaz Sharif had exhausted all legal remedies in the Supreme Court. He had already rejected the application of Nawaz Sharif on November 16 and upheld the objection of the registrar's office in the matter.

Khawaja Haris had filed a petition on December 2 on the grounds that his client's fundamental rights had been denied and he was deprived of due process of law. Khawaja Haris claimed that the order of November 16, passed by the Chief Justice in chamber suffers from errors of law on the surface of the record. On Thursday, refusing to entertain the plea the registrar's office returned the document to the advocate on record.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2018