Watch what you wear, Himachal HC tells litigants
HIGH COURT PULLS UP WOMAN ENGINEER FOR WEARING JEANS AND CHECKED SHIRT, CALLS IT ‘APPALLING’
Wearing jeans, checked shirt or a colourful printed sari to a courtroom can ‘undermine the majesty of law’ and land one in trouble.
More so, if the person is a government official.
High court of Himachal Pradesh in Shimla recently laid down the dress code for litigants, especially government officials, after taking exception to a woman officer appearing before it wearing jeans and checked shirt.
The court directed the state’s chief secretary to issue necessary directions to all government officials to dress appropriately while appearing in courts or office.
A division bench of the court comprising justices Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Ajay Mohan Goel said, “Every litigant appearing before the court is expected to be dressed in a modest manner so as to maintain decorum. After all being appropriately dressed only induces a seriousness of purpose and a sense of decorum which is highly conducive for the dispensation of justice.”
Ruing that people were dressing in a casual fashion while attending the court, it said, “Of late there has been lamentable slackness in matters of litigants attire,moreparticularly,government officers and officials appearing before this court and precipitates sartorial inelegance and judicial indecorum and undermines the majesty of law.”
This order was passed by the court after a junior engineer wore a jeans and multi-coloured checked shirt to the court.
Emphasising the importance of correct dressing, the court added: “Judges and magistrates play a pivotal role in the administration of justice and that is why they wear specific dress prescribed by the rules framed by the high court. This dress is worn compulsorily in order to maintain the dignity and decorum of the court and, therefore, we see no reason why any litigant, more particularly, government officers and officials should be improperly or inappropriately dressed while appearing before the court.”
CONTINUED ON P 6