SC reasons for green signalling Citizenship Bill enforcement

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has held that President Ramchandra Paudel’s approval of a bill that was not approved by then President Bidya Bhandari cannot be called ‘illegal’.

In a petition against the certification of the Citizenship Bill, the division bench of Supreme Court Justices Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Kumar Regmi on Thursday canceled the short-term interim order that stopped the implementation of the Citizenship Bill.

A single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma gave a short-term interim order not to implement the Citizenship Act approved by the President.

After the discussion on whether to continue the interim order, the division bench of the Supreme Court has mainly taken 3 grounds to open the way for the implementation of the Act.

First, the Supreme Court has considered the issue Article 10 of the Constitution of Nepal hails that no Nepali national can be deprived of the right to citizenship.

“Since the amendment to the Nepal Citizenship Act 2063 is necessary for the implementation of the said constitutional provisions, it has to be understood that the said amendment bill has been passed twice by the Parliament,” the Division Bench remarked.

Secondly, the Division Bench held that the Citizenship Bill is not void and not inactive.

“It does not seem to be possible to say that the bill passed by the Parliament becomes inactive or becomes void because the session of the House of Representatives has ended, after passing the Bill,” the Bench said.

Thirdly, the Supreme Court claims that constitutional void and complexity had arisen when the President did not certify the bill.

It also mentioned that since the Speaker has certified the Bill and sent a letter to the President to recommend the Cabinet, the certification cannot be said to be unconstitutional.

With this verdict of the Supreme Court, the children of Nepali citizens by birth will get citizenship from today.

Similarly, the SC order has paved way for the Non-Resident Nepalis the way has been opened for non-resident Nepalis who want to take Nepalese citizenship.