Supreme Court overturns own decision on Home Ministry’s citizenship circular

The order comes less than two weeks after the top court issued an interim order to stop granting citizenship by descent to individuals whose parents obtained citizenship by birth in 1997, under the recommendation of a committee led by Jitendra Dev.

Amid uncertainty surrounding the amendment to the Citizenship Act-2006, the Home Ministry had issued a circular to all the 77 chief district officers last month, telling them to grant citizenship by descent to individuals whose parents are citizens by birth.

“It is necessary to address the difficulties faced by those who, despite reaching the eligible age, have not been able to receive their citizenship,” the circular stated, emphasising how thousands of people without citizenship had been adversely affected when it came to accessing education and employment opportunities.

The order was immediately challenged in court by advocate Balkrishna Neupane, and days later, the court issued an interim order, asking chief district officers across the country to not implement the ministry’s circular.

But on April 17, a joint bench of Justices Hari Krishna Karki and Bam Kumar Shrestha overturned the previous order and upheld the ministry’s decision.

The court has not decided yet when the full court will sit to decide the case.