The Supreme Court of Nepal has ordered to submit a copy of the Citizenship Bill authenticated by President Ram Chandra Paudel.
Earlier on June 4, the Supreme Court had issued an interim order not to implement the Citizenship Bill immediately and asked to submit a copy of the certification on Friday.
A joint bench of Supreme Court Justices Prakashman Singh Raut and Sushma Lata Mathema asked to submit a certified copy of the Bill by the President before Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ left for India on May 31.
After President Paudel certified the Citizenship Bill on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers on May 31, without submitting it to Parliament, senior advocates Surendra Bhandari and Balkrishna Neupane filed a writ against it.
After the Bill passed by the previous Parliament was approved by President Paudel on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, the Supreme Court issued the order staying the Bill.
The Supreme Court, which called both sides for a discussion, has now sought a copy of the certification.
The writ requested not to implement the Citizenship Bill passed by the President claiming that it was illegal.
Since the issue of citizenship is connected with nationality, a separate policy is needed for this, the writ said.
The writ petitioners also demanded that there should be a provision that Nepalis should not be deprived of citizenship and foreigners should not be provided the citizenship.
A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on May 26 asked President Paudel to validate the bill, which had been gathering dust at Sheetal Niwas for a year. Paudel accepted the request of the Council of Ministers and certified the Bill on June 31 according to Articles 61 and 66 of the Constitution.
This Bill was stopped twice by then President Bidya Devi Bhandari. After Bhandari stopped this bill, it was kept in Sheetal Niwas since August last year.
This Bill, which was passed by the previous federal parliament, was blocked by the former president. But since the new Parliament was elected, legal experts were of the opinion that it should be brought from the President's Office to the Parliament to move it forward.
But President Paudel directly certified the Bill following legal consultation. The Attorney General's office also opined that the President can certify the Bill.
In this Bill, it was said that "children of citizens who have acquired Nepali citizenship on the basis of birth before September 25, 2015, if both father and mother are citizens of Nepal, their children will receive Nepali citizenship on the basis of descent after reaching the age of 16".
Opposition parties including CPN (UML) are protesting in the parliament, demanding that the Citizenship Bill be brought back to the Parliament for discussions.
