"Maturity Needed": Supreme Court's Reproof For Centre, Delhi Over Tussle

The Supreme Court today criticised the longstanding tussle between the Centre and the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi, remarking that the two governments need to get along to provide proper governance and failure to do so is "a breach of their respective electoral mandate". Pointing out that it has become an "endeavour" for the Centre and the Delhi government to "score points off the other", the court said "maturity is needed from both sides" to rectify the situation.

"No governance model requiring such collaboration can work if either of the two sides take a 'My way or the highway approach' which both seem to have adopted," said a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy.

While courts have been asked to define the contours of powers of the Delhi government and the Centre, advice to act in concert "appears to have fallen on deaf ears", the judges said.

The court, which was hearing the case involving Facebook's appearance before the Delhi assembly, was speaking of the social media site's role and responsibility in instances where its platforms was used to spread fake news and inflammatory messages.   

Using the Delhi riots as a case in point, the court observed that electoral results have put one party in control at the Centre and one in the state, and the two governments have been unable to see "eye to eye" on governance issues in Delhi.

The last few years have witnessed "unfortunate tussles on every aspect, with the Delhi government seeking to exercise powers of any assembly and the Central government unwilling to let them do so," the court said.

"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 judges said.

"Maturity is required from both sides and we have to reluctantly note the absence of such maturity in this important inter-relationship," the judges said in their detailed judgment.

"To work well, the Central government and the state government have to walk hand-in-hand or at least walk side by side for better governance... The failure to do so is really a breach of their respective electoral mandate," the judges said.