Plea In Madras High Court Asks For Tamil Nadu Deputy CM Udayanidhi Stalin To Adhere To Formal Dress Code In Office, Not Wear T-Shirts

The plea, filed by Advocate Sathya Kumar states that as per G.O (Ms) No. 67 of 2019 dated 1st June, 2019 issued by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department, all government servants are required to wear neat, clean and formal attire that is appropriate to workplace setting so as to maintain the decorum of the office. As per the GO, male employees are to wear shirts with formal pants or veshti (dhoti) reflecting Tamil culture or any Indian traditional dress.

The plea says that Udayanidhi Stalin, who is the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development in the State and who has been recently appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister of the State, is seen wearing a casual T-Shirt in all Government programmes, in the ministerial office and in Deputy Chief Minister's Cabin "as against the dress code prescribed in the Tamil Nadu Secretariat Office Manual".

The plea states that Udayanidhi was seen wearing T-shirts which has been classified as a 'casual dress' in the terminologies of etiquette around the world. He also stated that Udayanidhi's T-shirts often carried the symbol of his party- DMK and as a public servant he was prohibited from displaying a particular political party symbol in government meetings. It was added that by flaunting, parading and brandishing his party symbol, Udayanidhi is indirectly soliciting the general public who are the potential voters in the upcoming elections.

Thus, alleging that Udayanidhi's acts are unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal and against the GO, the plea seeks to direct Udayanidhi to adhere to the formal dress code.