Supreme Court Says National ID Is Not the Only Proof Banks Can Ask For, for Now
The court ordered banks to accept citizenship certificates through a two channel check until customers get a National ID card or number, Republica reports.
The Supreme Court has ruled that, for the time being, banks cannot treat the National Identity Card as the only proof of who you are. The order sets aside a Nepal Rastra Bank rule that had made the card compulsory for banking services, Republica reported Saturday, October 10. If you do not yet have a National ID card or number, your citizenship certificate should still work at the counter.
A joint bench of Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Meghraj Pokharel issued the mandamus order, a court directive ordering an authority to act, on Friday, October 9, Republica reported. The court told the government and banks to keep serving customers on the identification documents they already hold, such as citizenship certificates, until they get a National Identity Card or number. It ordered banks to use a "two-channel verification" process in the meantime.
Advocate Sarita Adhikari, a lawyer from Phungling Municipality in Taplejung now living in Kathmandu, filed the writ petition, Republica reported. She named the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Home Ministry, the Department of National ID and Civil Registration, Nepal Rastra Bank and Nepal Investment Mega Bank Limited as respondents. Her petition said banks were demanding the National ID card or its number to update Know Your Customer details or change a registered mobile number, and that this had shut out senior citizens, persons with disabilities and people without access to technology from accounts they already held, Republica reported.
The fight over the card did not start today. Nepal Rastra Bank made the National ID card compulsory for opening a new bank account from January 14, 2025, under an instruction issued on January 9, The Kathmandu Post reported. A journalist, Rudra Pangeni, told the Post that bank staff rejected his National ID card and still demanded his citizenship certificate and driving licence when he tried to open an account that year, even though the government had called the card equivalent to citizenship.
What the coverage missed
Ten days after Nepal Rastra Bank's January 9, 2025 instruction, on January 19, 2025, a full bench of Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut with Justices Abdul Aziz Musalman and Nripadhwaj Niraula dismissed a separate writ against making the National ID a must for government services. It directed the government to implement the card, The Kathmandu Post reported. Republica's report does not mention that ruling, or say how a mandamus from a two-justice bench sits against a full bench's earlier directive.
The bank mandate also did not stop at ordinary accounts. Nepal Rastra Bank told microfinance institutions to verify customers' National ID details electronically before opening accounts, starting January 14, Khabarhub reported. Khabarhub's report does not give the year. More recently, the central bank amended its Integrated Payment Systems Directive to require digital wallet providers to verify the card before opening new wallets, and required wallet providers to get a self-declaration from every existing user by October 17, 2026, seven days from today. Users who already hold a National ID must add its number by then, epardafas.com reported. Nepalis living abroad can still open wallets online with other documents but must add National ID details within six months of returning home, epardafas.com reported. Republica's report on Friday's court order does not say whether it reaches that deadline too.
What we still do not know
- Whether Nepal Rastra Bank, the Finance Ministry or any bank has responded to the order, or plans to amend the Unified Directive, 2025. Nepal Rastra Bank's spokesperson could answer.
- Whether the ruling affects the October 17, 2026 deadline for digital wallet users to update National ID details. Nepal Rastra Bank's Payment Systems Department could answer.
- What exactly "two-channel verification" requires at a branch counter, and which second document tellers must accept. Nepal Rastra Bank's Regulation Department could answer.
- Whether the government will seek a review, given a full bench directed National ID implementation in January 2025. The Office of the Attorney General could answer.
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Sources
- Republica · Primary report on the mandamus order, the bench, the petitioner and the named respondents
- The Kathmandu Post · Background on the January 2025 Supreme Court ruling directing National ID implementation and Nepal Rastra Bank's original banking mandate
- Khabarhub · Reported Nepal Rastra Bank's extension of the National ID mandate to microfinance institutions
- epardafas.com · Reported Nepal Rastra Bank's extension of the National ID mandate to digital wallets and the October 17, 2026 deadline
Editorial review record
Why it ran today
- ranking judge 1: ranked #2 with 76/100. A ruling with national effect on everyone's access to their own money. Republica names the bench and the petitioner, and OnlineKhabar, Hamropatro and Nepalnews confirm it independently. The desk can add NRB's response and what changes at the counter. It must say this is a mandamus order and that no NRB or bank response has been reported yet. Weakest dimension is emotional charge.
- ranking judge 2: ranked #2 with 76/100. Confirmed. This Supreme Court order has national effect on access to people's own money. Republica names the bench and petitioner, and OnlineKhabar, Hamropatro and Nepalnews confirm it independently. The desk can add NRB's response and what changes at the counter. Weakest dimension is emotional charge.
What the desk dug up
- The record. The mandamus that excuses banks from treating the National ID Card as the sole proof of identity reverses the practical effect of an earlier Supreme Court order: on January 19, 2025, a different full bench (Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut with Justices Abdul Aziz Musalman and Nripadhwaj Niraula) dismissed a writ against the NID mandate and directed the government to implement the card, a ruling NRB cited days later when it made NID compulsory for new bank accounts from January 14, 2025. [The Kathmandu Post] [Republica]
- The pattern. NRB did not stop at bank accounts: through 2025 and into October 2026 it extended the same 'NID as sole identity proof' requirement to microfinance institutions and, most recently, to digital wallets and payment service providers, with existing wallet users given until October 17, 2026 — one week after this mandamus — to update their NID details. [Khabarhub (English)] [epardafas.com]
Validation
1 red team round, 2 revisions. Decision: approved.
- accuracy88
- relevance82
- defensibility87
- reach64
Judge 1: The core ruling is well sourced to Republica. But the investigative section reverses the Post's chronology. The microfinance year is invented. The piece makes claims about an outlet it never read. The headline, card and hook drop the court's own 'for the time being' and 'card or number' limits. Each problem has a precise one pass fix with revisions left, so this is a revise, not a reject.
Judge 2: I checked all nine edits judge 2 ordered. Every one was made: the take's card-or-number limit, the petition line now resting on Republica, 'a full bench of the same court', both caption body sentences, 'Friday's court order', the deleted 'also', and key_facts items 1 and 5. On a full reread against the fetched Republica, Post, Khabarhub and epardafas pages, the dates check out (Friday October 9, Saturday October 10, October 17 as seven days from today and eight after the ruling) and no unsourced claim or broken attribution was added. Two small style gaps remain: the caption body is one block with no paragraph breaks, and 'still face' sits slightly flatter than the body's open question on the wallet deadline. Neither is a sustained high severity problem, and no revisions are left.
The complete record, including the advocate, skeptic, red team and defence arguments, is kept by the newsroom.
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