Peace and Harmony Committee cannot summon Facebook, field fully occupied by Parliament: Central government to Supreme Court

The Central Government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it is important for Legislative assembly committees to remain within their constitutionally permissible limits and not enter into the domain of Parliament. .Solicitor-General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, submitted that when there is a subject with a specific mention under Union List and the same subject has a general mention under State list, then it is the Union list entry which would prevail..The Court was hearing a plea by Facebook India head, Ajit Mohan challenging the summons issued to him on September 10 and September 18 by Delhi Assembly's Peace and Harmony Committee in relation to the social media giant's role in failing to curb hate speech in connection with the Delhi riots of February 2020..Facebook has no locus under Article 32, Ajit Mohan a sham petitioner: Delhi Assembly, Peace and Harmony Committee tells Supreme Court .One of the arguments raised by Mohan before the Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy was that the Committee does not have jurisdiction over the subject matter into which it is inquiring and that the said powers are vested with the Parliament. .This line of contention found support from the Solicitor General. ."The field is fully occupied by the Parliament, and at least to the extent, the Peace and Harmony committee seeks to deal with subjects falling under Entry 31 List I and Entry 1 and Entry 2 of List II [qua Delhi Assembly], the sole repository of legislative competence is the Parliament to the exclusion of State Legislature at Delhi," said Solicitor-General..Mehta clarified that he was neither supporting Facebook India head Ajit Mohan nor the Delhi Assembly in the matter. .But if there was a problem with Facebook then answer is not in giving power to state assembly to summon them, he added. ."It only needs a national response from the Parliament and it cannot have 28 assemblies taking a call on this. The question is what can be done to Facebook and by whom. Please look at the statement of objects and reasons of IT Act which excludes any kind of interference by assembly. I am not saying Facebook does not have a potential to create issues," Mehta contended. .[Breaking] Ajit Mohan was summoned as a witness, without threat of coercive action: Mukul Rohatgi, Harish Salve and Singhvi appear.The Bench, however, queried whether Delhi Assembly has the power to discuss a subject which is mentioned under List I (Union List) without any intent to legislate on it.Justice Maheshwari further asked whether Delhi Assembly apart from not having powers under Police, law and order and land, was capable of summoning an individual for discussing a subject..To this, the Solicitor-General expressed apprehension on what the scenario would be if all twenty-eight states start having discussions on a List I subject."Parliament comes our with an atomic policy which may have impact on public health. Now 28 assemblies cannot then discuss about atomic policy and its impact," said Mehta..To this Justice Kaul said, "Delhi Assembly has remit over many many fields. You can't say don't bother about peace and harmony."."I am giving an extreme example but Your Lordship is laying down the law. Just imagine if all the 28 assemblies contemplate issues regarding defence of the nation. Can they summon witnesses for the purpose of discussion. This would be a colourable exercise of power," the SG responded. .He further argued that courts are not powerless in cases involving question of breach of the self-imposed constitutional limitations during the exercise of powers of privilege.."Summons dated September 10, 2020, and September 18, 2020, issued by the State Committee, fall outside the scope of powers conferred upon the State Legislative Assembly as per the scheme of the Constitution relatable to the State of Delhi. The Union has exclusive powers on the subject matter sought to be dealt with by the State Committee through the aforementioned summons," Mehta maintained. .The matter will again be heard on February 24 next.