The Supreme Court on Sunday issued an interlocutory interim order asking the authorities not to enforce the new amendments to the Citizenship Act that were authenticated by President Ramchandra Paudel.

Supreme Court spokesperson Bimal Paudel informed that a single bench of Justice Manoj Sharma, hearing the writ petition filed by senior advocates Surendra Bhandari and Bal Krishna Neupane, issued the order.

The petitioners had filed the petition at the apex court following the President’s authentication of the amendment bill, stating that President Paudel had endorsed the Citizenship Bill unconstitutionally.

The President on Wednesday authenticated the bill—the same one that his predecessor twice refused to authenticate after repeated requests from the government followed by a series of consultations with the legal and political experts.

The Presidential seal on the amendment bill cleared the way for thousands of children of parents who got citizenship by birth to acquire citizenship by descent. An estimated 400,000 such people are waiting for their citizenship.

The court has also summoned the petitioners and the defendants for a hearing on the interim order.

Similarly, the Supreme Court has also issued a show cause order in the name of the defendants including the Office of the President among others.