Maharashtra government imposes dress code for government employees

Setting a dress code in government offices, Maharashtra has now banned jeans, t-shirts and slippers for employees.

As per the order, the workers are to refrain from wearing clothes “with deep colours and strange embroidery patterns or pictures”. Women should wear sari, salwar, churidar-kurta or trousers with a kurta or a shirt and a dupatta if required. Men should wear trousers and shirts. Employees have been advised to wear khadi once a week.

Also, all government employees must wear khadi clothes at least on Fridays to encourage the use of handspun, a circular issued on December 8 stated. "It has been observed that several officials/staff (mainly contractual staff and advisers engaged for government work) do not wear attire suitable for government employees. Hence, the image of government staff gets sullied among people," it said.

The circular also said that people expect "good behaviour and personality" from all government officials and employees, reports news agency PTI.

"....if the attire of officials and employees is unsuitable and unclean, it also has an indirect impact on their work," the circular added.

Earlier this week Monday, the general administration department of the state government issued a resolution putting in place a strict dress code for all its employees, saying they are representatives of the State and an inappropriate dress code can malign the image of the government in the minds of the people.