On October 7, the Supreme Court bench comprising of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra clarified that the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s appeal wherein he has challenged the trial court’s order which has summoned him as an accused in a coal scam case, would be heard by a special bench which has been hearing such cases.Kapil Sibal, Senior Advocate appearing for the former prime Minister, sought an early hearing of the appeal. “This is the matter which is not entirely related to the coal allocation case,” Sibal said.”We will refer this to the coal bench and you go before that bench and convince them that this is not a coal matter,” the bench said.Senior advocate Harish Salve appearing for Hindalco, mentioned the plea before the bench and sought the hearing after Diwali vacation, soon after Sibal was heard. The plea was resisted by Sibal.”These all are that matter. They should be heard together,” Salve said. The submissions of Salve were supported by another senior advocate K K Venugopal who appeared for former minister of stateforcoalSantoshBagrodia,also an accused in another coal scam case.The bench has asked the lawyers to arrive at a consensus with regard to the date of hearing and then mention it together before the bench.