[BREAKING] Delhi can ill-afford another riots; role of Facebook needs to be looked into: Supreme Court [READ JUDGMENT]

In an observation of significant import, the Supreme Court on Thursday said that the national capital Delhi can ill-afford to have a repeat of the February 2020 communal riots and therefore, the role of social media giant Facebook should be examined in relation the same..Thus, the constitution of Peace and Harmony Committee by the Delhi Legislative assembly to examine Delhi riots 2020 cannot be considered as misconceived or illegitimate, the Court said. "The capital of the country can ill-afford any repetition of the occurrence and thus, the role of Facebook in this context must be looked into by the powers that be. It is in this background that the Assembly sought to constitute a peace and harmony committee – whether it has the legislative competence or not is an aspect we will deal with it under the relevant head. The Assembly being a local legislative and governance body, it cannot be said that their concerns were misconceived or illegitimate," the judgment stated. However, long and repeated battles between the State and the Central governments cast a shadow even over the well-meaning intent of the Committee to assess peace and harmony as reflected in the Terms of Reference, the Court observed. . "Central Government and the State Government have been unable to see eye to eye on governance issues in Delhi. This has been responsible for a spate of litigation and despite repeated judicial counsel to work in tandem, this endeavour has not been successful," the Court said. .The observations came on a petition filed by Facebook India Head Ajit Mohan challenging the notices issued by the Delhi Assembly's Peace and Harmony Committee seeking Mohan's presence before it as part of its inquiry into riots..The top court upheld the Delhi Assembly's powers to constitute committee to examine Delhi Riots of 2020 while ruling that Mohan's plea was premature. The Court said that Delhi Assembly can look into the Delhi Riots even though law and order does not fall within the domain of Delhi government."The Assembly admittedly does not have the power to legislate under the issues which fall under the domain of union govt. However objective of peace and harmony go beyond law and order and police," the Court said.A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy agreed with the submission of Delhi Assembly that no coercive action has been taken against Mohan and the notice issued to him was to seek his assistance in examining a social problem."We agree with Dr Singhvi's contention that no coercive action has been taken against Mr Mohan," the Court noted..[Read Judgment]