KATHMANDU, Aug 14: Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa has tabled a Nepal Citizenship Act First Amendment Bill 2075 for deliberations at the parliament on Tuesday.

Commenting on the Bill, NCP leader Bhim Rawal demanded amendment to the Bill arguing that the provisions laid down in the Bill contradict with the Constitution.

Rawal has said the present Constitution has scrapped the provision laid down in the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2006 which said that a person could obtain a birthright citizenship. “Why is it necessary to introduce it in the current law again?”, asked Rawal.

In the previous provisions, three people had to sign the document to verify whether or not a person was born in the country. Now, there should be two people including a people’s representative to verify this document. According to Rawal, this provision was laid down in the Interim Constitution, 2063 BS, which said that the people born in Nepal after this cut-off date would be entitled to Nepali citizenship cirtificates.

Political parties had agreed to this provision for once and for all. Why is it stipulated in the Bill again?

The Constitution of Nepal, 2063 has been scrapped. The amendment has been made to the Citizenship Act, 2063. But why did this provision was laid down in the revised act? This contradicts with the present constitution.

Rawal went on to say that the citizenship is not the matter to be distributed rather it is the citizens’ right to obtain it in line with the law.

This is a regular process. Earlier, there was a provision according to which a team had been deployed to distribute birthright citizenships under some special circumstances.

This provision does no longer exist, Rawal said, adding, “The deployment of a team for distributing citizenship cirtificates is totally irrelevant.”

Rawal urged the government to sort out these contradictory provisions at the earliest.