citizenship certificate by descent. The present case has raised a question on whether one may be denied of right to acquire Nepali citizenship certificate only by virtue of his or her father having gone missing. and out of contact till date, and as it is shown from the photocopy of citizenship enclosed in case file that is authenticating that the mother of petitioners is a Nepali citizen and since it has also been corroborated that the petitioners are the offspring of a Nepali citizen Dhana Nagarkoti, a mandamus is hereby issued in the name of respondent District Administration Office, Kathmandu for providing Nepali citizenship certificate to the petitioners from their mother’s name as per the laws. Let the respondents be intimated of this order via Office of the Attorney General. Let this case file be duly returned after writing it off the registry. Article 8 (2b) of the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 has prescribed father or mother rather than father and mother. The said article places or and not and after the term father. If it were father and mother instead, one would have not been able to gain Nepali citizenship certificate in this situation. However, as the Constitution has explicitly provided for father or mother, it is deemed that in the event any one between the father and mother is a Nepali citizen, such an offspring may well obtain Nepali citizenship certificate. This being the case, the respondents seem to have misconstrued and misinterpreted the express provision of Constitution by denying the petitioners of Nepali citizenship certificate. In a similar writ petition (Writ No. 067-WO-0703) involving Petitioner Sabina Damai Vs. Ministry of Home Affairs et.al. (Ne. Ka. Pa. 2068, Issue 2, Decision No. 8557, p. 247) a mandamus has been issued by the Court in the name of District Administration Office, Kathmandu for providing a daughter born in Nepal from a Nepali citizen mother, citizenship of Nepal as per the laws. In this case too, as the father is missing ………………… (Justice) I concur with the aforementioned opinion. …………………. (Justice) Bench Officer: Lalkaji Shrestha Computer by: Sabina Adhikari Done on Monday, 2070-12-10-02 (Monday 24-032014) 70 Compilation of Selected Decisions of Supreme Court on CITIZENSHIP and BIRTH REGISTRATION