Taking serious note of its “casual dress sense” of its employees, officers and also those on its contract, the Maharashtra Government has come out with a dress code for them — under which it has banned its staffers from wearing jeans, T-shirts and slippers.
Holding that dresses worn by some employees as “indecent”, “unkempt” and “unclean”, that they have an adverse impact on the work atmosphere in offices and that they also “sully” the image of its image in the minds of people, the Uddhav Thackeray dispensation restrained its staffers from wearing jeans, T-shirts and casual slippers at its offices.
Prefacing the decision to introduce a new dress code for its staffer and contractual employees, Principal Secretary (General Administration Department) Shrikant Deshpande stated in a circular: “It has been observed that several employees and contractual staff wear “indecent”, “unkempt” and “unclean” dress that have an adverse impact on the work atmosphere in offices and that they also sully the image of the government’s image in the minds of the people”.
Among other things, the Maharashtra Government states that women employees can wear sarees, salwars/chudidars kurtas, trouser pants and shirts alongwith dupattas if necessary. The male employees can wear shirts and “pants or trouser pants”.
“Clothes with deep colours and strange embroidery patterns or pictures should not be worn. Besides, employees and staff should not wear
jeans and t-shirts in offices,” the circular stated.
In another diktat, the state government circular said that women employees should wear chappals, sandals or shoes while men should wear shoes or sandals.
In a welcome move aimed at encouraging use of hand-spun cloth, the Maharashtra government stated that all employees must wear khadi clothes at least on Fridays.
Maharashtra is not the first state to have come out with a dress code for its government employees. Last year, the Bihar government had come out with a similar dress code for its employees. More than two years ago, the Rajasthan government had banned its employees from wearing jeans and T-shirts.
On its part, the Tamil Nadu government asked its employees to avoid casual attire and instead wear clothes that reflect Indian and Tamil culture. Among other things, the Tamil Nadu government mandated the women employees to wear sari/salwar kameez/churidaar with dupatta while they were on duty and to shirts with formal pants/veshti (dhoti) or any other Indian traditional dress.
In August 2017, the Himachal Pradesh Government came out with a similar order prescribing a dress code for all its employees at work.
The Karnataka Government, which was among the first few states that introduced a dress code for its employees, had in 2013 barred its female employees from wearing skirts, T-shirts and pants while at work and asked its male employees not to wear T-shirts at work.