KATHMANDU, MAY 26
The government today decided to urge President Ramchandra Paudel to put his seal of approval on the citizenship bill that then president Bidhya Devi Bhandari refused to certify.
As per the constitutional provision, the president is required to certify a bill within 15 days if it is passed by the Parliament twice with or without any change.
Then president Bhandari, however, did not authenticate the bill within 15 days. Citizenship bill was sent to the president for authentication on September 5.
When the Parliament first passed the citizenship bill and sent it to then president Bhandari, she sent the bill back to the Parliament raising some legal issues that she wanted the House to discuss and revise the bill, but the Parliament passed the bill without any changes and resent it to the president for her approval. Then president Bhandari neither returned the bill nor approved it, raising a constitutional question.
Those who supported the president's move argued that the bill violated the constitution and hence Bhandari, who was protector of the constitution rightly stopped the bill from becoming a law. Those who opposed Bhandari's move said Bhandari exceeded her brief because the constitution did not give the president the power to refuse to certify a bill sent twice by the Parliament.
Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal told THT that a Cabinet meeting held today decided to write to the president requesting him to certify the citizenship bill passed twice by the Parliament.
He said that then president Bhandari erred by refusing to sign the bill into law and that could be rectified by the current president. "The president does not have power to stop the citizenship bill that was passed twice by the Parliament," Rijalsaid adding that the bill intended to grant citizenship to children of Nepali citizens, but rumour was spread against the bill. The minister said that if the current president did not certify the citizenship bill, then it could set a bad precedent, which could ultimately derail the constitution.
In the absence of new citizenship law, thousands of children of citizens by birth, children of single mothers and children of Nepali mothers whose fathers cannot be traced, have not been able to obtain their Nepali citizenship.
In Nepal, one needs to show citizenship for availing any government services. Without citizenship, one can neither buy a SIM card nor open a bank account nor obtain a driving licence.
Only citizens can apply for formal sector jobs, including government jobs.
Recently, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and President Ramchandra Paudel had separately consulted noted jurists about the certification of the citizenship bill by President Paudel.
Most of the lawyers and constitutional experts that the president and the PM consulted had opined that the current president had the power to endorse the bill as the bill was neither rejected by then president Bhandari nor was it resent to the Parliament.
CPN-UML lawmakers had opposed the bill even though the bill contained most of the provisions that former PM KP Sharma Oli had inserted in the citizenship ordinance.
During debate in the Parliament over the citizenship bill, then home minister Bal Krishna Khand had said the bill contained almost all the provisions that were there in the citizenship ordinance brought by the KP Sharma Oli government.
A writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court against the Office of the President when then president Bhandari did not certify the bill within 15 days, but the petition remains sub judice in the apex court.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 27, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
