ISLAMABAD: In an in-chamber hearing on Thursday, the Supreme Court (SC) rejected ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s petition to club the three references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him.

This was the second time that he was seeking the merger of the references, which were submitted to the accountability court on the direction of the highest judicial forum in its July 28 judgment that disqualified him as the prime minister.

On Dec.2, the top court’s registrar had turned down his original attempt to club the references.

Sharif said that filing three separate references against him was illegal, and violates the law and the Constitution, besides being violative of his fundamental rights.

The court upheld the registrar’s objections against Sharif’s petition, rejecting the ex-premier plea for a second time.

Sharif argued that the charges leveled in the references against him were similar and most of the witnesses that the NAB is producing or will present as per its list are the same.

There is no point in having separate trials, the former prime minister said adding that there can’t be separate hearings on similar charges.

He had also requested Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar to hold open hearing and not in-chamber proceedings while deciding his plea. However, his request was not accepted as the in-chamber hearing was held.