Citizenship Bill follows basic provisions of Constitution: Minister Khand

Kathmandu, July 15: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand said the government has lately presented the Citizenship Bill in the House as per the spirit and sentiments of the Constitution.     

In his response to issues raised during the theoretical discussions on the Bill to amend the Nepal Citizenship Act-2006 in a session of the House of Representatives (HoR) today, the Minister said the Bill aimed to end a situation likely to compel eligible citizens to suffer statelessness and to enable the non-Nepali citizen to obtain it instead.     

 "No Nepali citizen shall be denied the right to acquire citizenship," is the main spirit of the Constitution and the Bill aims to serve the same spirit.     

He said the government is committed to facilitating the citizen to exercise their constitutional rights to citizenship and the Bill was introduced on the same ground.     

 "The Constitution is changeable and it requires following a defined process and a system. With changing time, the Constitution will become a further advanced document," he said, adding that the Constitutional provisions had to be followed while bringing any bill and thus bringing an action.     

The bill is founded on the provisions under Part II which is about Citizenship in the Constitution and it was drafted bearing in mind the basic constitutional provisions, according to the Minister.     

He took to explain that the government had presented the Bill targeting those Nepali citizens facing multiple inconveniences in absence of the State's recognition for a long.     

Taking part in the discussions, lawmakers underlined the need of ending the situation capable of preventing Nepali citizens to acquire citizenship and enabling non-Nepali citizens to get it.  (RSS)