Nepalese SC summons PM Prachanda, Speaker over amendment bill

Nepalese Supreme Court today summoned Prime Minister Prachanda and Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar and asked them to furnish written clarifications within a week informing the rationale behind the registration of Constitution amendment bill to adress Madhesis' deamands.
A single bench of Justice Jagadish Sharma Paudel ordered the two leaders to furnish written clarifications within a week and set December 20 as the date for next hearing on the case filed against the government move, the Himalayan Times reported.
The ruling Nepali Congress-Maoist coalition government on November 29 had registered the amendment bill at the Parliament Secretariat in order to address demands put forth by the agitating Madhesi parties.

Following the registration, the Ex-lawmakers Forum challenged the Constitution Amendment Bill in the court, seeking a stay on the amendment process.
The amendment bill is aimed at carving out a new province to meet the demands of agitating Madhesis and other ethnic groups whose protests last year left more than 50 people dead.
The bill proposes to address three other key issues -- citizenship, representation in the Upper House and recognition of languages spoken in various parts of the country.

Madhesis, mostly Indian-origin, launched a six-month-long agitation from September last year to February this year in which more than 50 people were killed.

The agitation had also crippled the landlocked country's economy as supplies from India were blocked.
The bill proposes to list all the mother tongues of Nepal in the schedule of the constitution on the recommendation of the Language Commission. It also states that all languages recommended to be official languages by the Language Commission will be listed in the constitution's schedule.
On citizenship, the bill proposes that foreign women married to Nepali men can obtain naturalised citizenship after initiating the process to renounce their citizenship.
The bill does not say anything about the rights of the naturalised citizens and citizens by birth.