Delhi electorate mature but not the Elected; Centre and State cannot see eye to eye: Supreme Court on tussle between BJP and AAP govts in Delhi

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that the long and repeated battles between the State and the Central governments in Delhi appear to have cast a shadow even over the well-meaning intent of the Peace and Harmony Committee constituted by the Delhi Assembly to examine the Delhi Riots of 2020. .This has been responsible for a spate of litigation and despite repeated judicial counsel to work in tandem, this endeavour has not been successful."We may record that the Central Government and the State Government have been unable to see eye to eye on governance issues in Delhi. The last few years have seen an unfortunate tussle on every aspect with the State Government seeking to exercise powers as any other Assembly and the Central Government unwilling to let them do so," the Court observed. .This is almost a daily governance tussle, the Court further said faulting both the governments. "The political dispensation which is in power in the State has to recognise the constitutional scheme of division of powers in Delhi which circumscribes their ability to work only within those powers. When they got elected, they knew what they were getting elected for – not what they thought should be the division of powers. On the other hand, the Central Government is required to work in tandem, albeit with a different political dispensation," the judgment stated. .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 Central government has supported Mohan's petition claiming that Delhi assembly has no power to examine aspects relating to Delhi riots since it is a law and order issue.The Delhi government had, however, claimed that the Delhi assembly can go into the same as a means to maintain peace and harmony since it is a social concern..The Court praised the electorate of Delhi for having voted to power two different political parties at the Central and State level for the past few years. "The seven Lok Sabha seats are all held by the powers that be in the Central Government but a very different result came in the Assembly Elections. This has seen a repeat. It is a reflection of the maturity of the electorate which has chosen to put one dispensation in power in the Centre while seeking to choose another in the State as the roles are divergent," the judgment said. However, the same maturity is missing as regards the two elected governments."Maturity is required from both sides and we have to reluctantly note the absence of such maturity in this important interrelationship," the Court said. .[BREAKING] Delhi can ill-afford another riots; role of Facebook needs to be looked into: Supreme Court [READ JUDGMENT].The Court underscored that "no governance model requiring such collaboration can work if either of the two sides take a ‘my way or the high way’ approach, which both seem to have adopted.".The top court, in its judgment, eventually 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..[Read Judgment]