HEADLINE NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Govt to bring new citizenship bill: PM
Relevant inputs to be incorporated

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Oct. 15: The government would present a new Citizenship Certificates Bill in the Parliament on the basis of the national consensus reached between different political parties and also by incorporating recommendations and conclusions of various Commissions formed to solve all kinds of problems related to the citizenship issue in the country.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba informed this to the House of Representatives today.

Prime Minister Deuba said that the Cabinet has submitted its decision to His Majesty the King to bring another Citizenship Bill to resolve the problem of citizenship certificates and also to resolve the disputes that have arisen after the Council of Ministers was informed about the advice of the Supreme Court to His Majesty on the Citizenship issue.

The House of Representatives had approved the Nepal Citizenship (Sixth Amendment) Bill over a year ago and was submitted to His Majesty for the Royal assent. His Majesty then sent it to the Supreme Court on the basis of Article 88 (5) of the Constitution of the Kingdom seeking advice whether the Bill would corresponds with Article 8 and 9 of the Constitution.

Then the Apex Court then had decided that provisions and conditions fixed by the Bill for obtaining the citizenship were not mentioned in the Constitution since there were no provisions to get the citizenship except under Article 7 of the Constitution of Nepal-2019 B. S. and the Clauses 3 and 4 of the Nepal Citizenship Act-2020.

Likewise, Article 8 of the present Constitution has encompassed these provisions, and the Constitution, at the time of commencement, has clearly underlined the conditions for being eligible to become the citizens of the country.

"That is why, Clause 2 of the Bill proposing amendment of the Nepal Citizenship Act-2020 violates Articles 8 and 9 of the Constitution of the Kingdom," reads the decision of the Supreme Court.

The Bill was initially approved unanimously by the House of Representatives, but it was disapproved by the Upper House by a majority vote. It was again tabled in the Lower House for the approval without any changes, but that time, the main opposition party, CPN-UML, went against the Bill citing it undermined the interest of the Nepalese. Nonetheless, the Lower House passed the bill with a majority vote and was submitted to His Majesty for the Royal seal for making it the law of the country.

Even as the House approved the Bill, controversies surfaced with both the politicians and people from different walks of life discussing the pros and cons of the Bill. Many said that the Bill, if it becomes a law, would violate and overlook the spirit of the Constitution and that it was against the interest of the nation.

Amidst the ongoing debates, His late Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah sought the advice of the Apex Court on the Bill and the Court advised the late King that the Bill was against the spirit of the Constitution.

The issue of citizenship has been hot issue in the Parliament and mainly the Nepal Sadhvabana Party has been constantly raising the citizenship issue and pressing the government to end the deadlock of the citizenship bill.

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