Nepal apex court clears way for implementation of amended Citizenship Bill

The Supreme Court of Nepal on Thursday cleared the way for the implementation of the newly amended Citizenship Bill which was recently certified by President Ram Chandra Paudel.

A division bench of Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Justice Kumar Regmi paved the way for the bill's implementation as it decided not to give continuity to the interlocutory interim order earlier issued by a single bench.

The short-term order issued by Justice Manoj Sharma earlier blocked the way for the implementation of the amended provisions of the Citizenship Act, allowing thousands of children of parents, who got citizenship by birth, to acquire citizenship by descent.

An estimated 500,000 such people are waiting for their citizenship certificates.

However, the court is yet to issue its final verdict in this matter.

Last year, the then president Bidya Devi Bhandari had put the Citizenship Bill, which was passed by both Houses of the federal parliament, on hold without certifying it.

The same bill was however approved by Paudel on May 31.

Senior advocates Surendra Bhandari and Balkrishna Neupane had filed a writ at the apex court, saying that the president's move to validate the bill went against the Constitution.