Centre sides with Facebook in SC; India head Ajit Mohan says 'unwilling' to appear before Assembly committee

new delhi: The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that proceedings of the Delhi Assembly's Peace and Harmony committee, which has summoned Facebook India VP and MD Ajit Mohan to appear as a witness in connection with the north-east Delhi riots, is without jurisdiction as the issue pertained to law and order.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before a bench of Justices S K Kaul and Dinesh Maheshwari that "public order and police are not within the domain of the Delhi Legislative Assembly and therefore this proceeding is without jurisdiction".

The top court also extended a previous order restricting coercive action against Mohan till the next date of hearing, scheduled for December 2.

The plea filed by Mohan, Facebook India Online Services Pvt. Ltd and Facebook Inc, has contended that the committee lacks the power to summon or hold petitioners in breach of its privileges for failing to appear and it was exceeding its constitutional limits.

They have challenged the September 10 and 18 notices issued by the committee that sought Mohan's presence before the panel which is probing the Delhi riots in February and the social media giant's role in spreading hate speech.

The Delhi Assembly represented by senior advocate AM Singhvi maintained that the summons was for a witness and no coercive action had been taken against the company or its chief in India. Senior advocate Harish Salve appeared for Facebook and also argued that the Assembly here does not have jurisdiction in this matter.

Allegations are being made that Facebook has promoted disharmony in Delhi. Facebook does not write anything. It provides a platform, Salve said, adding that Facebook is regulated by a central law. He also said Mohan is not willing to appear before the Assembly panel as a result.

The bench, after hearing submissions from the parties, agreed that the prima facie issue here was of the jurisdiction and powers of the Delhi Legislative Assembly and its committees.

The Peace and Harmony Committee has, however, told the top court that it had received multiple complaints/representations addressed to its chairman Raghav Chadha, underscoring the alleged instances of inaction/inability on the part of social media platform-Facebook to enforce its policies against inflammatory and hateful contents.