The government has decided to request President Ram Chandra Paudel to authenticate the Citizenship Bill.
A Cabinet meeting held on Friday decided to request the president to authenticate the bill, which then president Bidya Devi Bhandari had refused to authenticate, according to a minister.
Bhandari had not authenticated the bill even after the previous Parliament had passed it and sent it to her twice.
She had first sent the bill back to Parliament for reconsideration on a couple of issues. As per the Constitution, the president can send a bill back to Parliament once.
Parliament had then passed the bill without any changes and sent it to her for authentication again, but she did not authenticate it. The president is constitutionally required to authenticate any bill that is resubmitted by the House within 15 days after it is sent back to the House for reconsideration once.
After the new Parliament was formed and Paudel was elected president, the government had begun discussion to send the previous bill to the president for authentication.
President Paudel had consulted constitutionalists and legal experts on the issue. Some experts had said that the previous bill could be authenticated while others had opined that a new bill should be brought as the previous one was already dead.
