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Avoid jeans, cargo pants: Tripura issues dress code for officials
The memorandum also pointed out that a few officials read and send messages on their mobile phones during meetings, which is a mark of disrespect.
The Tripura government has issued a dress code that bars officials from wearing jeans, cargo pants and sunglasses. It has instructed them against using mobile phones during meetings.
Revenue, education, information and cultural affairs principal secretary, Sushil Kumar, has directed magistrates and other top district officials to ensure the dress code at the meetings either chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb or his deputy, Jishnu Deb Barman, chair.
In a memo, Kumar said he had never seen any officer from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) or other central services going to the office wearing jeans or denim shirts while he was in the central government service for three years.
Kumar called the tendency of officials to use mobile phones during meetings a mark of “disrespect” for the people chairing them. He cited instances in which officials were seen taking calls during official meetings and said such things should be avoided.
Kumar recalled former chief minister Manik Sarkar’s advice to the officials asking them to keep their hands out of their pockets during conversations.
The Opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM condemned the dress code. “The dress code has no link with the welfare of people. A person should have the freedom to wear what he likes. The government’s interference in this regard is not welcome,” said CPM state secretary, Bijan Dhar.
Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh government had issued an advisory in October 2015, asking officials not to wear jeans and sunglasses during official functions.
The Chhattisgarh government had in May 2015 reprimanded Bastar district magistrate, Amit Kataria, for wearing dark glasses when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the state.
