'President Bhandari has no reason to withhold it or return it to the Parliament'
KATHMANDU, AUGUST 10
With President Bidhya Devi Bhandari sitting on the citizenship bill even after it was passed by both houses of the Parliament a week ago, her move not to give immediate assent to the bill has raised many hackles.
CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who returned from Japan today, publicly expressed his dissatisfaction over the delay in presidential assent to the bill, which enables children of citizens by birth who have not been able to obtain citizenship despite constitutional guarantee get Nepali citizenship.
Dahal told mediapersons at Tribhuvan International Airport today that the president should not have taken this long to give her assent to the bill. "I do not think that the president will send it back to the Parliament for reconsideration, but she should not have delayed giving her assent to the bill," Dahal said.
Senior Advocate Surendra Kumar Mahto said although the president had the option of sending non-financial bills to the Parliament, the executive head should use that option only when such bills violate the constitution.
"As far as the citizenship bill is concerned, the president has no reason for delaying her assent to the bill, as it conforms to all the provisions of the constitution regarding children of citizens by birth, children of single mothers and non-resident Nepalis," Mahto added.
He said the bill carried the voice of sovereign people who have used their right through their representatives. "Delay in assenting the bill raises questions about the president's intention. Bidhya Devi Bhandari as a person may have differing views on the bill, but as the president of the country, she has no reason to delay assent to the bill," Mahto said.
He said controversy should not be manufactured about provisions related to matrimonial naturalisation, as the bill intends to continue the current provisions that have governed the process for decades. He said people who advocated hill nationalism were unnecessarily blowing the issue of matrimonial naturalisation out of proportion.
Mahto said if the president sent the bill back to the Parliament, the lawmaking body could pass it again and send it back to the president, who would then have to give her assent to the bill.
Executive Director of Forum for Women, Law, and Development Advocate Sabin Shrestha said since the citizenship bill contained the same provisions that the citizenship ordinance issued by the president during the KP Sharma Oli government had, the president had no reason to delay in assenting the bill.
Senior Advocate Radhe Shyam Adhikari said that he hoped the president would not return the bill to the Parliament. "In the absence of new federal citizenship bill, eligible Nepali citizenship have not been able to obtain their citizenship. This bill will do justice to them and I hope the president would realise this and help end miseries eligible citizens are facing in the absence of citizenship," he added.
As per Article 113 of the constitution, the president can give assent to a bill within 15 days. If it is a non-financial bill, she can send it back to the House where it originated within 15 days for reconsideration. But when the House sends it back, she will have to give her assent to it.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 11, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
