Delhi High Court Suspends District Judges Veena Rani and Vinay Singhal
The Delhi High Court administration in New Delhi has suspended two district court judges, Veena Rani and Vinay Singhal, from their duties after finding prima facie evidence of misconduct against them. The suspension orders, which were decided during a recent full court meeting, have also initiated a formal disciplinary inquiry against both judicial officers. The suspension of Judge Singhal was enacted on July 10, while the suspension order for Judge Rani was issued on July 15 and officially communicated by the high court administration on Friday.
The administrative action comes amid serious allegations of misconduct. For Judge Rani, the suspension is linked to past controversies regarding judicial administration. Her name was previously highlighted in a 2018 high court order when a division bench took formal cognizance of allegations of "forum shopping" involving her and two other judges who have since retired from their posts.
During those 2018 proceedings, the division bench of the high court directed that intellectual property rights suits of certain parties should not be listed before Judge Rani or the other two judges. This directive was issued during the hearing of a contempt plea. The plea alleged that specific litigants had actively engaged in "forum shopping" by repeatedly filing applications to get their intellectual property rights cases listed before these specific trial court judges.
The matter escalated further in 2019 when a high court bench led by Justice Manmohan, who has since become a Supreme Court judge, issued another directive. Justice Manmohan's bench ordered the high court registry to place the matter before the then Chief Justice on the administrative side. The bench requested that a committee of officers or high court judges be formed to thoroughly look into all the allegations of "forum shopping" against Judge Rani and the two retired judges.
Following these developments and the recent full court meeting, the high court administration has now moved forward with the suspensions and the initiation of the disciplinary inquiries to address the prima facie evidence of misconduct.
