Udhayanidhi Stalin’s ‘casual attire‘ leads to PIL in Madras High Court

File photo of Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin
| Photo Credit: C. Venkatachalapathy

The Madras High Court on Tuesday (October 29, 2024) wanted to know if there were any specific rules and regulations that prescribed the dress code to be followed by Ministers. The question was raised during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed against Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s casual attire.

A Division Bench of Justices D. Krishnakumar and P.B. Balaji granted a week’s time to Advocate General P.S. Raman and the PIL petitioner M. Sathya Kumar, an advocate by profession, to find out the relevant rules and regulations on the subject and place them before the court during the next hearing of the case.

The 37-year-old lawyer from Selaiyur in Chennai had filed the case complaining about the Deputy Chief Minister wearing T-shirts with the DMK’s election symbol ‘rising sun’ even at government events. He sought a direction to him to adhere to a Government Order (G.O.) issued on June 1, 2019, laying down the dress code to be followed by government servants.

However, the A-G told the court the G.O. was with respect to government servants and not Ministers, who were public servants. He also pointed out that the 2019 G.O. relied upon by the petitioner only states that casual attire should be “avoided” and does not prohibit it in toto.

Stating that the Deputy Chief Minister wears T-shirts because he finds them comfortable, Mr. Raman pointed out that the Chief Executive Officers of many top global corporate companies too wear T-shirts for public events and therefore, the attire could not be considered inappropriate.

After hearing him as well as the petitioner, the judges asked the A-G to take notice on behalf of the State government and make his submissions elaborately after a week.

What the petitioner said

In his affidavit, the petitioner had claimed that his grandfather G. Sundarama Reddiar was a farmers’ union leader who worked closely with former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. He said DMK strives for protecting Tamil cultural identity and therefore, is very particular about the dress to be worn by its cadre.

The petitioner claimed DMK founder C.N. Annadurai, as well as his successor Karunanidhi, had adopted a combination of western and Tamil attire by choosing to wear western-style shirts paired with the traditional veshti (dhoti) in order to signify that the party stood for both modernity as well as Tamil pride.

Stating that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin too had been carrying the legacy forward with respect to the dress worn by him, the petitioner said it was disheartening to see an emerging leader like Mr. Udhayanidhi wear casual T-shirts for all government programmes, despite holding the post of Deputy Chief Minister.

He said the Tamil Nadu Secretarial Office Manual prescribes the dress code to be worn by government servants. An amendment made to the manual through the 2019 G.O. requires government servants to wear a neat, clean, and formal attire appropriate to the workplace setting and to maintain decorum.

While women employees were allowed to wear sari, salwar kameez, or churidhar with dupatta, male employees had been advised to wear formal pants or veshti reflecting Tamil culture or an Indian traditional dress. The manual specifically states that casual attire should be avoided.

The petitioner further said: “He (Udhayanidhi Stalin) is also wearing a jean and an informal footwear which does not qualify as a formal attire and results in violation of the prescribed dress code as per the G.O. stated above.”

The petitioner also complained about the DMK election symbol having been embroidered on Mr. Udhayanidhi’s T-shirts.  “A public servant is prohibited from displaying a particular political party symbol in the government meetings and while discharging duties in the capacity of a public servant,” he claimed.