Facebook has no locus under Article 32, Ajit Mohan a sham petitioner: Delhi Assembly, Peace and Harmony Committee tells Supreme Court

Facebook, being a corporation, has no locus to approach the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution challenging the notice issued to them by the Delhi Assembly’s Peace and Harmony Committee and that is why they filed the petition through their India Head, Ajit Mohan, the Delhi Legislative Assembly and the Committee told the Supreme Court on Tuesday (Ajit Mohan v. Legislative Assembly, National Capital Territory of Delhi)..Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi representing Delhi Legislative Assembly told the Court that the petition is not maintainable on that count..“Facebook Inc and Facebook India are corporations which cannot invoke Article 32. They can assert Art 19(1)(a) only through a shareholder which has not been done. Petitioner Ajit Mohan (who has filed the petition) is not a shareholder in Facebook or Facebook India,” he said..They cannot claim violation of Article 21 also, Singhvi added..“They have claimed violation of privacy but Your Lordships have clearly held (in earlier judgments) that corporations don't have privacy unless Ajit Mohan's privacy is violated,” Singhvi said..Singhvi’s submissions were echoed by Senior Counsel Rajeev Dhavan who said that Facebook got its India Head Ajit Mohan to file the petition to overcome the legal hurdle Facebook faced in filing a petition under Article 32..“Article 32 right is not available to corporations and I would also say to people who represent those corporations. So in order to avail Article 32 remedy, they got Ajit Mohan. So the veil on Ajit Mohan has to be lifted. He is not a shareholder. It is a symbiotic relationship between him and Facebook. So the petitioner before Your Lordships is Facebook and not Ajit Mohan. He (Ajit Mohan) is a sham petitioner,” Dhavan argued..The submissions were made in petition by Facebook India’s Vice President, Ajit Mohan challenging the September 10 and September 18 notices issued by the Peace and Harmony Committee which sought Mohan’s presence before the panel as part of its inquiry into the Delhi riots.The Committee is examining, among other things, the role of Facebook in failing to curb hate speech in connection with the riots..In his petition, Mohan has stated that the public order of Delhi is within the domain of the Central government and the Delhi government does not have jurisdiction over a law and order issue..[Delhi Riots] Committee formed by Delhi Assembly to probe social media giants' omissions unconstitutional: Centre, Facebook tell Supreme Court .It is also his argument that there "is no law that empowers a State Legislature, including a committee formed by that Legislature, to take coercive action against any person unless it obstructs or impedes its legislative functions."Mohan has also claimed that by targeting Facebook – a platform that allows users to express themselves – "summons create a chilling effect on the free speech rights of users of the Facebook service.".Hearing in the matter will continue on Wednesday.