ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Monday withdrew his review petition in the rental power projects case, DawnNews reported. A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the petitions filed by power companies and the federal government. The petitions have sought review of the court’s verdict of March 30, 2012 which had held the RPP contracts non-transparent and had ordered that they be rescinded.

During the hearing, the prime minister's counsel, Wasim Sajjad, informed the bench that his client wished to withdraw his petition.

The bench accepted the request and the petition now stands withdrawn.

Also during the hearing, four counsels representing different parties had requested the apex court to adjourn the hearing until a decision was reached on the RPP implementation case.

Pervez Hasan, counsel for the Pakistan Power Resources (PPR), requested the court to hear the review petition after it had concluded hearing the RPP implementation case.

Responding to which, Chief Justice Iftikhar said action still had to be taken on the corruption pertaining to the rental power projects.

Hasan told the bench that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had applied pressure on the companies and had managed to recover the funds.

The chief justice said the review case may remain adjourned, adding that the court would continue hearing the RPP implementation case.

Four counsels, representing the parties, had requested the bench to adjourn the review hearing.

The hearing was later adjourned to Feb 18.