KATHMANDU, JANUARY 25
The Supreme Court will continue hearing the case filed against Rastriya Swatantra Party Chair Rabi Lamichhane, raising questions about the status of his Nepali citizenship.
The five-member constitutional bench of the apex court led by Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki heard arguments from both sides but listed it for continuous hearing as the petitioners' lawyers did not have time to rebut Lamichhane's arguments.
Yubaraj Paudel 'Safal', and Raviraj Basaula and Nani Babu Khatri had filed two writ petitions against Lamichhane challenging his election to the HoR. They argued that Lamichhanne was not a Nepali citizen when he contested the election because he did not initiate the mandatory process of getting his Nepali citizenship restored after renouncing his American passport. Lamichhane also faces accusation of holding both American and Nepali citizenships together, thereby violating the prevailing laws. The petitioners' attorney Senior Advocate Surendra Bhandari argued that Lamichhane had challenged the rule of law as he obtained Nepali passport on 27 May 2015 when he was an American citizen.
Lamichhane had argued that he had informed the Department of Immigration on 22 September 2018 of his petition seeking renouncement of American passport. Bhandari said Lamichhane's argument could not be considered as petition to get his Nepali citizenship restored. He said a person seeking restoration of his/her Nepali citizenship should file a petition before the competent authority in a prescribed format, which Lamichhane had not done. He stated in his pleading note that Lamichhane was not a Nepali citizen.
Bhandari said the SC, while adjudicating the citizenship case field by Surendra Bahadur Shrestha, held that the status of a Nepali citizenship who obtains another country's citizenship cannot be that of a Nepali citizen. According to this precedent, Lamichhane's current status is that of a non-resident Nepali and he can get his Nepali citizenship restored only if he fulfils the procedural obligation.
Senior Advocate Sushil Panta pleaded on behalf of Lamichhane.
Joint Attorney Sanjeeb Raj Regmi pleaded on behalf of Lamichhane arguing that the petitioners did not have locus standi to file the case. He said the House of Representatives Election Act and Rules related to the same Act stipulated that only candidates would have the authority to file a case against another candidate whom they think is ineligible. Regmi said Lamichhane's Nepali citizenship got automatically restored after he renounced his American passport and lack of procedure could not be a ground for denying him the chance to get his citizenship restored.
Lamichhane had submitted his written reply to the Supreme Court arguing that the laws and rules governing the process of getting one's Nepali citizenship restored did not apply to him as he had never renounced his Nepali citizenship.
He also said the Citizenship Rules had not clearly provisioned the procedures for people like him to get his Nepali citizenship restored.
In the parliamentary elections held on 20 November 2022, Lamichhane won from Chitwan Constituency No 2 with a huge margin and his party, in its maiden attempt, won 20 seats.
Safal stated in his petition that Lamichhane, who had obtained his Nepali citizenship on 22 February 1994, obtained US citizenship on 21 February 2014 and US passport on 5 March 2014. However, he renounced his American passport on 28 June 2018, but did not initiate the process of getting his Nepali citizenship restored as mandated by Section 11 of the Nepal Citizenship Act and Rule 11 of the Nepal Citizenship Regulations.
The petitioners had urged the court to invalidate Lamichhane's membership of the HoR and the RSP, as well as his status of RSP chair. Other justices that sat on the constitutional bench included justices Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Bishwombhar Prasad Shreshta, Ananda Mohan Bhattarai, and Anil Kumar Sinha.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 25, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
