No T-shirt, and jeans in office: Maharashtra govt issues new dress code for employees

Employees working at the Maharashtra secretariat, government offices will now have to follow a dress code on duty. According to a new order, employees won't be able to wear t-shirts, jeans while on duty and have to follow appropriate formal clothes. According to mint, the Maharashtra government order says state government employees and contractual staff to not wear jeans or t-shirt in the secretariat and government offices. The order instructs them to follow formal clothes, to appeal more professional. 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.

People expect “good behaviour and personality” from all government officials and employees, it reminded. “If the attire of officials and employees is unsuitable and unclean, it also has an indirect impact on their work,” the circular said. The attire should be “proper and clean”, it said. Women employees can wear sarees, salwars/chudidars kurtas, trouser pants and shirts along with dupattas if necessary, it said. Men have fewer choices: they 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 ordained. Women employees should wear chappals, sandals or shoes while men should wear shoes or sandals, it was stated. Maharashtra is not the only state which has directed government employees to follow wearing formal clothing in offices. States including Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan Labour Department have also issued such orders in the past asking government employees to wear only formal clothes in offices.