KATHMANDU, JUNE 10

The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court has issued an interim order to the government ordering it not to implement the recently certified Citizenship Amendment Ordinance.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana, Justices Deepak Kumar Karki, Hari Krishna Karki, Mira Khadka and Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada issued the order on Thursday.

The constitutional bench reasoned that an immediate implementation seems irrelevant and such practices infringe parliamentary rights by standing against separation of powers.

Earlier, a seniority-based constitutional bench was formed from among the Supreme Court justice to hear the writ against Citizenship Amendment ordinance on June 4.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, on May 23, had issued the Nepali Citizenship (first amendment) Ordinance against which six writ petitions had been filed at the apex court.

The ordinance was issued bypassing parliamentary discussions haphazardly by the government in a bid to woe the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal, and to facilitate their entry into the Cabinet.