By TON Nepal

On Sunday evening President Bidya Devi Bhandari head of Nepal’s state returned the Citizenship Act amendment bill to the House of Representatives for a review on the 15th day she received it from the Speaker for authentication. The Speaker had sent the bill to the president house (Sheetal Niwas) on July 31 for authentication after the lower house endorsed it on July 22 and the upper house. On July 28 the President sent the bill back to the House for a review.

The President has sent the Citizenship Act amendment bill to the House of Representatives as per Article 113(3) of the constitution, along with a note that it needs an appraisal. A bill, passed by both the houses, becomes a law only after receiving the President’s seal.

The delay in validating the bill by the President had raised anxieties among segments of people. The constitution. However, permits the President to take up to 15 days to study the bill before approving it or referring it back for a review. President has attached 15 concerns and proposals while sending the bill back to the House.

On July 8, the government had made a new amendment bill to the Citizenship Act after withdrawing an old one which was confirmed by the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of Parliament after considering on it for 22 months. The new bill was not sent to the House committee for discussions.

Since the bill created in the lower house, it has been sent back to the lower house for a review, but it has to be sent to the upper house as well. As per Article 113(4) of the constitution, both the houses need to appraisal the bill and they can send it back to the President in its current form or after a review.

If the upper house does a review, the lower house has to accept it. Once the bill is resent to the President, in its existing form or after a review, it must be authenticated within 15 days from the date of receiving it. Thousands of children who were born to the parents who got their citizenship by birth have been waiting for the presidential permission to the bill to get citizenship by descent.

All eligible Nepal’s born before September 20, 2015, the day the Constitution of Nepal was promulgated, were granted naturalized citizenship. However, their children are unsuccessful to get citizenship in the lack of a law as the constitution said the provision to give them citizenship would be guided by a federal law. Some 190,000 persons had attained naturalized citizenship by birth.

The presidential approval would have paved the way for one born to a Nepali woman in Nepal and whose father is unidentified to get citizenship by descent. The bill, however, has a provision that the applicant’s mother must make a self-declaration that the father is not identified. The bill says she will be answerable for action if it is found that her claim that the father is not identified turns out to be wrong.

The President has showed her concern over this provision of self-declaration. She has said the provision is varying with Article 39 of the constitution connected to necessary rights of the children and Article 38 that guarantees women safe motherhood and generative rights.

The president has said the provision demanding the self-declaration by a mother will not only force her to disclose her identity but will also tantamount to an attack on her self-respect. The provision needs to be reconsidered. As motherhood and reproduction are chastely the rights of a mother guaranteed in the constitution, the self-declaration doesn’t match the constitutional facility.

The President has also found the provision contradictory to Article 16 of the constitution which safeguards the right to live with dignity. On concerns that she was quick to issue an ordinance by the former government with similar necessities but has deferred the bill even after it was permitted by the House, the President has said the making of laws through an ordinance and through a bill are two different procedures.

There is always a scope for review of an ordinance in Parliament but that is not the case with the bill endorsed by Parliament. She has said that the constitution itself has preserved the President with the right to send any bill for an amendment if necessary.

When the earlier bill was moved in the House, the major bone of contention was whether to give or not the naturalized citizenship to foreign women married to Nepali men once they start the process to reject the citizenship of the country of their origin. The committee in June 2020 had endorsed the earlier bill with a facility that foreign women married to Nepali men will have to wait for seven years for naturalization. The new bill, however, removed that provision.

During her consultations with leaders from different parties as well as civil society members, she was offered different views, some suggesting immediate authentication while others urging her to send it for a review.

The President has said in her message that there is a need to have a historical overview of the drafting processes of citizenship laws. The President has requested a study of the historical aspects and practices before amending the law.

She has suggested for reading the very first law on citizenship issued in 1952, old constitutions and modifications to them to vary the provisions associated to providing citizenship, the citizenship law that was not legitimated by the former King.

The President said that Article 10(2) has unsuccessful to include the constitutional facility of single federal citizenship with provincial identity. Article 10(2) states that “facility of single federal citizenship with provincial identity has been made in Nepal.

She has stated that it is sad that an issue like citizenship was a medium to make division in society, she pressed the House to steer clear of disagreements and focus on the subject matter.

The President has said a lasting solution should be found to the issue of naturalized citizenship. In her message, the President has also said the concerns of Madhesh should be decided in an enduring way. She has said that the citizenship issue is not an issue limited to Madhesh only.

Stating that the Madheshi communities have been watching the developments relating to naturalized citizenship seriously, the President has asked the Parliament to find a permanent solution.

The issue relating to granting citizenship through mother and citizenship by descent to those born to parents with citizenship by birth is prevalent in 53 districts, as per Home Ministry statistics. From the new Act, the number of beneficiaries in the eight districts of Madhesh stands at 35,000-40,000 while around 700,000 to 800,000 people across the country are predictable to advantage from this Act.

The President has also stressed that there should not be any delay in giving citizenship and urged the federal parliament to discuss and decide on the bill without stay and re-send it for confirmation. Now the process of the bill will review. It’s now up to the Parliament whether to deliberate the concerns raised by the President and review the bill or send it back to her for authentication in its current form.