or mother was a citizen of Nepal at the time of
his/her birth, such person shall be the citizen of
Nepal by descent”, there appears legal provision
regarding the citizenship acquisition. Petitioner
Bijay Basnet is seen to have been born on date
2049/10/1 (January 14, 1993 A.D.) at Lalitpur Submetropolitan City, Ward No. 13 from the matrimonial
relationship between Jogendra Basnet and Yashu
Maya Budhathoki Basnet, and his father, Jogendra
Basnet, was disappeared and has not been traced
yet and mother, Yashu Maya, Budhathoki, is seen
to have obtained Nepalese citizenship certificate
by descent, of C. C. No. 752/944/1/4 from District
Office. From this, of the necessary conditions made
provision by the Constitution and Nepal law relating
to citizenship, for the sake of obtaining citizenship
by descent, in the condition that father or mother
shall have to be a Nepalese citizen be descent,
the children of such father and mother shall be
qualified to obtain Nepalese citizenship by descent;
as per this provision, on the ground of the father
of the petitioner, Bijay Basnet, not traced and his
mother, Yashu Maya Budhathoki, being a Nepalese
citizen by descent; in this condition, the fact that
the petitioner, Bijay Basnet, is a person qualified to
obtain Nepalese citizenship by descent seems to be
justified indisputably.
for the children to register birth immediately they
are born, to have name and right to nationality,
and has ensured including the right to know their
parents and get care from them so far as possible.
Likewise, Article 8 has guaranteed that children
shall have the right to protect their nationality,
name and familial relationship including their
identity as per recognized by the party state. This
provision has realized the norm that no child should
be stateless. Thus, Nepal also has become a party
state of the treaties and conventions including the
aforementioned declarations, and Clause 9 (1) of
Nepal Treaty Act, 2047 has accepted the norm that
the provisions of the treaties of which Nepal is a
party shall remain at the status above the Nepal
law; in this condition, it appears that the provisions
made by such treaties and conventions regarding
citizenship shall be implemented effectively in the
context of the present dispute.
The provision of the Constitution and Act and
Rule is itself clear that the person who is a citizen
of Nepal by descent, if he/she wishes to obtain
citizenship through anyone’s name out of father or
mother, can obtain citizenship from the same name
and address, and prior to this, in the writ petition
having including Ranjit Thapa versus the Office of
the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers,
interpretation has been made by this Court on date
2066/3/12 (June 26, 2009 A.D.), stating “Rule 3 of
Nepal Citizenship Rule, 2063 has granted the right
to obtain citizenship certificate through any one of
the father or the mother thinking of both of them
of the parents as descent; despite having different
addresses of the parents, if the petitioner comes to
demand at the place of the address of the father or
the mother, of which he makes a choice, along with
the recommendation of the body concerned by
fulfilling the procedure prescribed, he can obtain
citizenship certificate from one place out of the
addresses of the father or the mother chosen by
him,” (N.L.M. 2066, Number 6, D.No. 8175), Hence,
it seems that the petitioner, Bijay Basnet, can obtain
citizenship of Nepal by descent through the name
of the mother, Yashu Maya Basnet.
Now, upon considering regarding whether the
petitioner, Bijay Basnet, can or cannot obtain
citizenship by mother’s name by descent, it
is undisputed that citizenship is a matter of
fundamental human rights and extensive interest
and concern of every person. Citizenship is a means
of determining legal and political ties between a
person and the state, and this is a legal and official
identity of a person as well. To confer citizenship
is the duty of a state and to obtain citizenship is
a matter of right of a person, as well. Article 15 of
the Universal Declaration on Human Rights has
made the provision that by guaranteeing every
person of the right to citizenship, nobody shall
be deprived of the citizenship discretionarily.
This provision has granted the surety right to any
person against the statelessness, and has made it
clear that the state shall have to make provision of
equal right to its citizens regarding citizenship, and
discrimination is not supposed to be made on the
matter of conferring citizenship with the grounds
of ethnicity, gender, language, religion, political or
other faiths. Similarly, Article 24 of the International
Covenant on Civic and Political Rights has ensured
every person the right to get birth registered and the
right to acquire nationality without discrimination.
Article 7 of Convention on Child Rights, which
was passed realizing the surety of the right of any
children to live along with their own nationality
without discrimination, has guaranteed the right
Now, upon looking to the pleadings of the affidavits
of the District Administration Office and Lalitpur
Sub-metropolitan City, which state that citizenship
certificate could not be given to the petitioner
because permanent address of the petitioner
was not seen to have been within Lalitpur Submetropolitan City, Ward No. 13, the fact that he was
born at Lalitpur 13 on date 2049/10/1 (January 14,
1993 A.D.) is seen to have been mentioned in the
replica copy of the petitioner’s, Bijay Basnet’s, birth
registration certificate, whereas, petition pleading is
seen to have maintained that the mother, petitioner
Yashu Maya Budhathoki, obtained the citizenship of
82
Compilation of Selected Decisions of Supreme Court on
CITIZENSHIP and BIRTH REGISTRATION
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