ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Citizenship certificate and birth registration are considered the most significant legal identity documents in Nepal. The Constitution of Nepal guarantees the right to citizenship to all citizens of Nepal whereas the Nepal Citizenship Act entitles only to Nepali citizens who have reached the age of 16, the right to obtain citizenship certificates. The citizenship certificate, apart from being a significant legal document is also required to obtain other vital legal identity documents in Nepal. Without citizenship certificates, individuals cannot register on voters’ list, register marriage or birth, buy or sell land, appear in professional exam, open bank account and so forth. Citizenship certificate is equally mandatory to claim social benefits and state allowances. Consequently, lacking a birth certificate and citizenship certificate presents critical challenges in all aspect of a person’s day to day life in Nepal. Birth registration has been recognised by the Constitution as a fundamental right, and is a principle document and evidence when applying for the citizenship certificate in Nepal. Initiatives have been taken by the Government of Nepal to ease the vital events registration process by amending vital events registration laws that previously contained several gaps and limitations. This was a commendable task of the government that correspondingly manifested the need of flexibility of laws as per the changing scenario. The Supreme Court of Nepal is the court of record which has the final authority to interpret the constitution and laws. Disregard of the legal principle laid down by the Supreme Court amounts to contempt. The right to Citizenship, unrecognized as a right by the former constitution has been acknowledged, conceded and defined by the Supreme Court as a fundamental right in several rulings. Consequently, discourtesy and denial of citizenship right to eligible persons by the concerned authority ipso facto creates substantial grounds for the applicant to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the court and seek remedy invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of the Court. In citizenship cases, a PIL is normally filed in the court against the Municipalities, Ward Office, District Administration Office, Ministry of Home Affairs and/or Office of the Prime Minister. The Supreme Court has rendered many landmark judgments and set noteworthy precedents with regard to citizenship, where the concerned offices were issued directive orders to provide citizenship to the applicants. Furthermore, the Ministry of Home Affairs has also issued circulars in order to implement the decisions of the Supreme Court and laws on citizenship in a similar fashion. However, the implementation of the judgment and precedent rendered by the Court has benefited the concerned applicants only, while the doctrine of precedent that proclaims the lower court to take account and follow the decisions laid down by the Supreme Court in cases where the material facts are similar, has often not been considered by the lower courts and decision makers at the Municipality, Ward and District level.