By Our Reporter
After President Ram Chandra Paudel authenticated the Citizenship Bill last week, the people have been divided for and against it. Even in the parliament, a clear division has been noticed between the ruling and opposition parties regarding the authentication of the Bill.
On Tuesday, when Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda’ defended the authentication of the Bill stating that holding the Bill endorsed by the parliament twice by outgoing President Bidya Devi Bhandari, the UML lawmakers objected to his claim disturbed him to continue his speech in the middle.
While the main opposition CPN-UML, and the other two opposition parties—Rastriya Swattantra Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party–have stood against the authentication, the ruling parties have defended it. The House which went out of order for a while on Tuesday, however, returned to normalcy after NC lawmaker Bishwo Prakash Sharma reminded some crucial provisions of the constitution regarding the House proceedings as well as the status of the Bill endorsed by both Houses.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Nepal on Sunday issued a short-term interim order, preventing the government from implementing the recently approved amended Citizenship Act.
The order came after President Ramchandra Paudel gave his approval to the bill last week. A single bench of Justice Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma granted the interim order and adjourned proceedings for both parties.
The purpose of the adjournment is to allow further discussion on whether an interim order should be issued or not.
Prominent senior advocates have expressed their concerns regarding the constitutionality of the bill. Surendra Bhandari and Balkrishna Neupane filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court, contending that President Paudel’s certification of the bill goes against constitutional provisions.
The petition argues that the provisions cited by the President during the bill’s validation were unrelated to the purpose of the Bill validation. It further asserts that the bill was validated based on incorrect constitutional provisions, effectively attacking constitutional integrity.
The bill was approved by the previous federal parliament twice.
Earlier, former president Bidhya Devi Bhandari refused to pass the citizenship bill by putting it on hold after the federal parliament approved and sent it to her twice.
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