Citizenship Bill: Court issues temporary stay order [With timeline]

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has issued a temporary order to halt the implementation of the Nepal Citizenship Act (Amendment) Bill which was authenticated by President Ram Chandra Poudel on Wednesday.

A single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma issued the order after a hearing on Sunday. The court also issued a show-cause notice to the Office of the President and invited both parties involved in the case to attend the next hearing for further discussion.

Senior Advocates Dr. Surendra Bhandari and Bal Krishna Neupane filed the writ petition on Friday, challenging the legality of the authentication of the bill. The petitioners argue that the President’s decision to validate the bill, which had been endorsed by the previous parliament, is illegal.

They have requested a mandamus from the court to revoke the validation of the Bill.

Timeline of the Bill:

• July 8, 2022: The government withdrew the Bill, first registered in 2018 and registered a new Bill on the same day.
• July 22, 2022: House of Representatives endorsed the Bill.
• July 28, 2022: National Assembly endorsed the Bill.
• August 1, 2022: The Bill endorsed by both houses of parliament was sent to the Office of the President for authentication.
• August 14, 2022: President Bidya Devi Bhandari returned the Bill to parliament with a message.
• August 18, 2022: The Bill returned by the Office of the President was endorsed again by the House of Representatives.
• September 2, 2022: The Bill was returned by the Office of the President was endorsed again by the National Assembly.
• September 5, 2022: The Bill was forwarded to the Office of the President for authentication for the second time. Although President Bidya Devi Bhandari had to authenticate the Bill within 15 days of its submission by the Federal Parliament Secretariat, she didn’t authenticate it.
• May 26, 2023: The government requested the President to authenticate the Bill stuck in parliament.
• May 31, 2023: The President authenticated Nepal Citizenship Act (Amendment) Bill
• June 2, 2023: A writ petition was registered at the apex court challenging the authentication of the Bill.
• June 4, 2023: Supreme Court issued a temporary order halting the implementation of the Bill until a final verdict is passed.