ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali on Tuesday set aside objections raised by the Supreme Court (SC) office on petitions seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and ordered constitution of a bench to initiate further proceedings.

The registrar office's earlier set aside petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Jamaat-i-Islami, Watan Party and an individual seeking a probe into the Panamagate revelations, terming them 'frivolous'. The PTI and JI challenged the rejection of their petitions.

"That this petition prima facie appears to be a frivolous petition within the contemplation of Order XVII Rule 5 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980," explained the order issued by the registrar’s office when the petition was returned, Dawn earlier reported.

Under the Rule 5 of Order XVII, the registrar has the authority to refuse to receive a petition on the grounds that it has not been filed in accordance with the rules, or is frivolous, or contains scandalous matter, the order said, adding that the petitioner, under the same rules, had the right to move an appeal within a fortnight of the petition’s return, which would then be heard by a judge of the apex court in his chambers.

The CJP, after hearing arguments in his chamber, declared the office's objections 'null and void' and ordered the constitution of a three-member bench to examine maintainability of the petitions and initiate further proceedings.

PTI leader and counsel Hamid Khan said that apex court had rejected the earlier objections to the petitions and hoped that further proceedings would be made soon in this regard.